PUBLIC consultation on the plan to sell green spaces across Bristol cost £146,000, and letters explaining the policy could cost another £3,000.

Bristol City began one of the largest consultation exercises it has ever carried out last June, asking residents what they thought about proposals to sell up to 64 open spaces to raise money to fund improvements in up to 160 others.

More than 16,000 people signed petitions against either individual or all the lands sales, one of the largest responses the council has had.

The consultation also identified which parks residents thought were most in need of improvement and which improvements were most important.

The results fed into the Parks and Green Spaces Strategy, which the council says will help raise millions in grant funding to help pay for the 20-year plan.

But despite public opposition to land sales, more than 40 sites have still been agreed for sale. The council cabinet removed nine from the at-risk list in December and a number of others are still being considered.

Around 7,000 people signed a further petition calling for a rethink of the land sale approach, but attempts to make this happen were voted down by the Liberal Democrat majority earlier this month.

Instead the Lib Dems agreed to send a letter explaining the issues around the plan to all the petitioners.

The Labour group has estimated this could cost as much as £3,000 to post.

The £146,000 covers everything to do with the plan since last April, including the 20-week consultation. Opposition parties argued there was only any point spending the money on consultation if they listened to the outcome. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, say that is exactly what they have done.

Councillor Mark Weston (Conservative, Henbury) said: "Money spent on a public consultation is only ever money well spent if you listen to what the public have to say. The fact that they are now going to send a letter to the 7,000 people who signed the call-in petition is simply insulting. People didn't sign that petition so they could receive a letter, they signed so they could have the final say on the future of their parks. This is a throwing good money after bad."

Councillor Helen Holland (Labour, Whitchurch Park) "If you spend nearly £150,000 asking people what they think and then ignore what they say it is not surprising that people feel angry – about the waste of money as well as the strategy.

"Before the petition triggered a full debate in council, the leader Councillor [Barbara] Janke confidently stated that opposition to their plans was falling away.

"The debate and the petition proved that isn't the case, but to add insult to injury the Lib Dems intend to write to the petitioners to tell them why, yet again, their views are being ignored."

Executive member Gary Hopkins said: "We are dealing here with tens of millions of pounds of investment into our parks and it is vital officers give factual information free from spin.

"We remain committed to redressing the years of neglect of our parks under Labour and to working with those dedicated and knowledgeable volunteers."