Some commentary on what's happening w.r.t BRT routes and development
on the north slopes, which will overlook the malago. Presumably the
new housing and new BRT route go hand in hand.

Also, if you look a the WoEP's plans for the city from February, they
still have the Bristol-Bath railway path up on their plans. That
implies the engineering team has gone rogue -decided they know better
than the councillors what we need and ignoring local campaigns. Not
good.
http://www.westofengland.org/media/104693/rt%20msbc%20executive%20summary.pdf
http://bristolcars.blogspot.com/2009/04/secret-plans-of-woep.html


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <rob@...>
Date: Sun, May 17, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Subject: Bristol Parks Forum Sat 16 May Report
To: Steve Loughran


To Steve Loughran, Keep the Bank Green

Hi,

Saturday's BPF meeting

The minutes of the meeting are being written up by Catherine at
Bristol Parks and will be issued in
due course. In the meantime here are some notes on the main issues
that were raised and some links to additional information:

Parks Re-organisation

Peter Wilkinson ran through the new structure and updated us with
which posts and been filled and where there were still vacancies. He
acknowledged that for some areas the fact that posts had not been
filled when the new structure came into operation on 1st April meant
that there was a a vacuum with groups having no clear point of
contact.

I hope to have a copy of the new structure on the website later in the
week. There are still two Community Park Officer (CPO) posts to be
filled (Central and North) interviews for these posts are due next
week. Caroline Hollies, who has been appointed as Area Park Manager
(APM) for Central, is on maternity leave looking after her new
daughter Christina. Clare Adams, who has done an excellent job as CPM
in the East over the last few months, has been appointed to cover the
Central area until Caroline returns. A new Parks Operations Manager
(POM) has been appointed as has a new Community Development Officer
(CDO) both will take up their posts in a month or so. Peter also
reported that he will be interviewed for his own job next month.

         -----------------

South and Central Contracts

While the North and East Areas are now maintained by 'in-house' teams,
South and Central will remain contracted out. Peter asked for feed
back on the performance of Quadron who took over the South contract in
February, there were a few issues raised in particular parks but the
overall impression seemed positive. There were also comments that the
performance of Continental Landscapes in the Central area had improved
this year. Peter outlined the time-line towards the award of the new
contract for this area which is to be in place by February 2010 when
the current contract ends.

There will be two opportunities for BPF members to get involved. First
(following a request from Alison) groups in the Central area will have
an opportunity to check the maps/specifications for their parks that
will be included in new contract, this will be June/July. Secondly a
representative from the BPF will be able to get involved in the
selection of the new contractor in the same way as Roland did for the
selection of Quadron for the South. Please email
info@... if you would like to be involved.

         -----------------

AGSP Progress

Richard Fletcher presented a review of progress on the Area Green
Space Plans. There is currently a lull in the 'stakeholder'
consultation but this will start again in June and you should be
contacted with dates for any outstanding meetings in your area in the
next few weeks. The core sessions have been completed in most areas
but many site specific meetings have yet to take place. Some of the
delay has been caused by Sam Parry leaving for a job in London.

It is likely that the public consultation will now take place from
January 2010, rather than the Autumn. This is mainly because the BDF
team have yet again put back the dates for their consultations on the
'site allocations'.

         -----------------

Rapid Transit Routes

One of the issues raised in the discussions was the difficulty in
finding out what is happening about proposals for rapid transit routes
and how lack of knowledge is impacting both the AGSP, BDF and other
ongoing consultation processes particularly in South Bristol.
Apparently as well as threats to green corridors at the Malago and
along Colliter's Brook there is a plan for a route diagonally across
Hengrove Park.

         -----------------

Chocolate Factory Site

Gary Hopkins was able to give us an update on this site which adjoins
the Bristol to Bath Railway Path. As you may know the planning
application was approved, but the development proposed the use of two
plots of land owned by BCC which are adjacent to the Railway Path and
part of what is a linear park. There was a public consultation on the
sale of this land, details are at
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/bristolrailwaypathpublicconsultation

Gary reported that the sale of this land was now considered to be a
key decision to be made by executive members rather than officers. He
said that he was unhappy with how this issue had been dealt with in
the past but that the position was now that there was a scheme with
planning permission that was generally thought to be beneficial to the
area.

Gary stated that the smaller area 'Plot 1' had been leased to the
Chocolate Factory in the past so could be considered as part of that
site, also that without this land the development would not happen. It
had therefore been decided to sell this land.

The larger 'Plot 2' runs along the cycle path and was mainly wanted
for the multiple accesses to the 'Cycle Houses'; it was the proposed
lease of this land that the BPF objected to in our statement agreed at
our last meeting
http://www.bristolparksforum.org.uk/BPFRailwayPathResponse.pdf

Gary said that there would now be a separate consultation on this land
with two options - one with the multiple access ways and one with a
reduced number of access points crossing the land. This consultation
would be through the 'Ask Bristol' e-consultation system. I shall send
you the link when it goes live.

         -----------------

Town Green Applications Update

The Rights of Way and Greens Committee considered the Town Green
Application for Castle Park on 27 April, Members voted unanimously in
favour of deferring the decision because they were not satisfied that
they had been provided with sufficient information regarding the
status of the land. It was agreed that the matter would therefore be
given further consideration at the meeting at 2pm on Monday 27th July
2009. Minutes of the meeting can be seen here:
www.bristol.gov.uk/committee/2009/wa/wa005/0427_mins.pdf

Gary Hopkins stated that it was the current administration's aim to
restrict development at Castle Park to the area of the existing
buildings.

Several other people at the meeting reported that Town Green
Applications were in progress. The public inquiry on the park in
Whitchurch has been deferred - report here: http://tinyurl.com/qzpwx3

There was a general discussion on the fact that issues such as the
rapid transit routes, the large scale of the proposed development at
Castle Park and the sale of Filwood Park without proper consultation
had led to Town Green Applications being the only way people felt that
they could protect green areas.

         -----------------

Festival of Nature 6th and 7th June 2009

www.festivalofnature.org

We are looking for volunteers to be at the stall over the weekend and
are asking if possible that those volunteers take a two hour slot.
This will give you an opportunity to promote the good work that your
group is doing as well as the BPF. We would like to get representation
over the period from as many BPF members as possible. If you would
like to volunteer please reply to info@... with
your name, the BPF affiliated group that you are part of and the slots
for which you are available from the list below:

Sat 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6
Sun 10-12,12-2, 2-4, 4-5

We would also be pleased to hear from you if you can take on
organising the setting up of the stall which will probably be on the
Friday and/or the dismantling on the Sunday.

         -----------------

The Big Lunch 19th July

Ben Barker highlighted 'The Big Lunch' that is to be held on 19 July
and reported that it was hoped that there will be a picnic in every
green space in Greater Bedminster on that day. He urged that everyone
should hold a lunch in their park. More details of the Big Lunch are
at www.thebiglunch.com

         -----------------

Love Parks Week 25 July to 2 August

www.loveparksweek.org.uk

GreenSpace's annual awareness raising campaign, Love Parks Week, has
now been launched for 2009. They are asking as many people as possible
to get into parks between 25 July and 2 August to join their campaign
for continued investment and support for these valuable assets.

You can register your events on their new website: they will be using
the information gathered from the events registered online to call for
continued investment and support for parks and green space.


         -----------------

Draft Protocol: Options when working 'High Value' Trees

www.bristolparksforum.org.uk/ProtocolHighValueTreesDRAFT.pdf

Hugh highlighted this document which seems to suggest felling should
be the first option considered when trees are considered to be a risk.
Hugh urged anyone with an interest in trees in the streets or in their
parks to get involved in the Bristol Tree Forum which is working
towards a tree strategy for Bristol more details via
www.bristolparksforum.org.uk/trees.htm

         -----------------

Save our Green Spaces

Sue suggested that The Forum should become a member of this group but
it was agreed that we need more information and Alison is contacting
them. The email that the group sent out and a copy of their manifesto
can be seen visa the link below . Your group may wish to consider
joining and / or attending the meeting.

www.bristolparksforum.org.uk/SoGS_MANIFESTO.pdf
         -----------------

A few things not covered at the meeting...

The Redevelopment of Kingswear Road, Torpoint Road and the College
Site at Marksbury Road

This was mentioned briefly during the discussions on the number of
consultations that were occurring in South Bristol. This one is being
carried out by a London-based architecture practice FAT. The
consultation documents can now be seen online at
http://tinyurl.com/pgl2fp

These proposals include building on part of the Northern Slopes
Proposed Local Nature Reserve which is also designated as an SNCI.

See also www.northern-slopes-initiative.co.uk

         -----------------

A New Park

Something Hugh meant to mention at the meeting was that the site that
the Cycle City team are currently using as a depot on Station Rd,
Ashley Down, will be given to the community as a park when they've
finished. This was news to Peter Wilkinson when Hugh mentioned it
later.

         -----------------

Colliter's Brook Trek Sunday May 24 10am to Lunchtime

Organised by Helen Adshead (as in previous years) the walk will begin
at CREATE Centre at 10am and follow Colliter's Brook through Ashton
Vale with a pick up point at 11am at Ashton Vale Club for Young People
and then continuing on up to Hanging Hill Woods with a 'bring your
own' picnic to finish. More details at
http://www.bristolparksforum.org.uk/CollitersBrook.pdf

      -----------------

A message from the BBC:

Have you ever wondered how you could get greater coverage for your
group on the BBC?

Are you thinking of having an event, perhaps as part of the Dirty
Weekend, Green Balloon Club or Springwatch and want to get it on the
telly?

As part of the BBC's Breathing Places campaign we are staging
Storytelling sessions at BBC Bristol in May.

The aim is to give a better idea of what News Editors are looking for
when planning a programme - what they need and what they don't!

We'll also reveal how you can get your news story on the BBC's local
and regional output.

The event is free but places are limited and will be issued on a first
come, first served basis; please feel free to forward this on to other
groups or partners you work with, you feel might like to attend.

 There are two such workshops in the BBC West region:-

   *  28th May, 10am-2.30pm: SON&R Centre, BBC Bristol, Whiteladies Rd  BS8 2LR
   *  23rd June, 10am-2.30pm: SON&R Centre, BBC Bristol, Whiteladies Rd  BS8 2LR

If you would like to come please e-mail trish.campbell@... with
the details below as soon as possible which session you'd like to
attend (in order of choice) with full contact details .

      -----------------

Finally I would like to say thank you for all the kind comments I
received at the Forum about these emails. Please do let me know if
there is anything else that you think other groups will be interested
in and I will try to include it.


Rob Acton-Campbell
BPF
www.bristolparksforum.org.uk
BPF Meeting Dates:  25th July, 31st October


You have received this email because you are on the BPF email list. If
you know of anyone else in your group (or other groups) who would like
to receive these messages they can now sign up to the list via our
website. See http://www.bristolparksforum.org.uk/signup.htm