RESIDENTS have objected to more than half of the sites under threat of being sold off in Henbury and Southmead.

Proposals to build 49 homes on part of Okebourne Park have alone attracted around 1,800 letters and a petition with 1,500 signatures.

And of the other eight main areas, members of the public have opposed disposal of four.

These are: land at Elderberry Walk; Embleton Road children's play area; Font Hill Park; and Trymside open space.

The other sites under threat of sale – including land at Brentry Hill, Tranmere Avenue, Pen Park Road and Arnall Drive – have not been opposed, according to campaigners.

The BS10 Residents' Parks and Planning Group has carried out its own consultation with residents and is putting together a statement representing the views of local people.

Members of another campaign group, Friends of Okebourne Park, have said they are "disgusted" by the plans and are hoping to have the ground off Okebourne Road registered as a town green to protect it from development.

There has also been an angry response to proposals to have 24 travellers' pitches at the former Dunmail School site.

To complicate matters, this comes under a separate consultation exercise being carried out at the same time, called the site allocations and development management options document.

Campaigners say this has only served to confuse people.

Friends group member Alison Devonshire believes the part of Okebourne park earmarked for development is "the most beautiful" and should not be touched.

She said: "We're trying to get people to go outside rather than sit in and watch the telly.

"Bristol says it has green credentials and the council talks about low carbon but it wants to put a road right up to the park.

"My concern is that they are rushing this all through.

"Lots of people don't know this is going on. Not everyone reads the paper and a lot of older people don't have computers."

The council has put forward a number of ideas for areas that could be improved when money raised from land sales is reinvested over the 20-year period of the project.

Although it won't have the money to fund them all, the authority wants residents to say which they would prefer.

Options include new play areas for children and teenagers at Okebourne Park, new seating and a winding pathway through the woodland.

The old playing pitch at Badock's Wood could be turned into a community orchard, or Glencoyne Square could see a new play area and a pedestrian walkway to Arneside Road.

Other improvements include making the open space at Crow Lane feel safer and a multi-use games area for Doncaster Road Park.

Cabinet member Gary Hopkins, executive member for targeted improvements, which includes the parks and green spaces strategy, said: "What we are not going to do is abandon the strategy and its principles, because it is right. The purpose of all this is to consult, and there are a whole variety of views.

"By devolving the spending and decision making down to local people it will get to what they want, and will hopefully bring better value."

To view the detailed proposals go to www.bristol.gov.uk.

● What do you think of the proposals for your area? Email s.rkaina@bepp.co.uk or write to Sam Rkaina, Evening Post, Temple Way, Bristol, BS99 7HD