THIS part of the city is set to lose eight green spaces despite public protest – one of the largest number of losses in the green spaces plan.

Bristol City Council cabinet has approved the sale of four sites and the other four put forward for disposal will be sold pending further research on flooding.

Residents provided 156 pages of letters, emails and responses and 311 people signed petitions against land sales in the area.

A petition of 184 signatures was only found by officers the day before a decision was made to sell off the sites.

Daisy Field – also known as Portway Tip – was the most contentious site on the list, attracting the largest amount of correspondence during the public consultation.

The Shirehampton Greens group leafletted residents on the Portway, in Wellington Mews, Station Road, Dursley Road and Nibley Road asking for their views on the sale of part of the site.

All responses were against any development on a variety of grounds.

All of the public responses had names removed when the council published them last month.

One resident said: "I am disgusted and upset to find that yet again the Daisy Field is in the proposal to be sold for building houses.

"Please do not yet again remove one of Shirehampton's few facilities, which is enjoyed by so many residents."

The council has always argued that selling off green spaces is necessary to help invest in scores of other parks across Bristol, after a lack of investment for decades.

During the consultation period residents were asked to fill in questionnaires saying which of their local parks were most important to invest in and which investments in each park they wanted most.

Of the 54 people who responded to surveys, the largest number – about half – said Lamplighters Open space was the most important to invest in.

They felt "enhancing the riverside walk running into Nibley Road open space to provide a good quality natural link" was the best idea for the site put forward by the council. That was closely followed by "enhancing the natural area adjacent to the river with information boards and new seating".

Comments from residents praised new children's play equipment that has already been installed at the site. But they felt any formalisation of the space was not necessary.

One said: "Apart from the improved play area and improved riverside walk I would like to see the space left as open, informal and natural as possible."

Another comment read: "The Lamplighters Field is an important green space for the community. The play area has been enhanced recently and hence needs no further development.

"It is not the right place to create a formal park and gardens."

A number of people suggested Sea Mills Infant School in Hallen Drive as an area that should be used as a children's play space.

Beverston Gardens came bottom of the list of areas that need improving.

Money raised from sales will be added to funding from developers, grants and the parks department budget and then divided between areas in the city.

Residents will be able to have their say on where the money should go at Neighbourhood Partnership meetings, and over the next six months a "shopping list" of improvements will be drawn up for each area. Council spokesman James Easey said: "Following cabinet's decision, those green spaces which will be made available for disposal will now go into the Site Allocations plan, and the usual planning process – this will determine when and if developments occur over the next 20 years. But as officers made clear, these areas will of course continue to be maintained up until that point."

Further work will be carried out on the flood risk sites and then officers and executive member for the scheme Gary Hopkins will decide how to move forward.