Parks in south Bristol will be the first to come under scrutiny as the city council looks to sell off land (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144922&contentPK=20490209Over the next two years, the whole city will be examined by a newly- appointed team to decide which patches of Bristol City Council's 3,700 acres of parkland should go.
They money will be used to create new play areas and improve parks under the Parks and Green Space Strategy over the next 20 years.
Bristol City Council will begin by looking at its open spaces in Brislington before reviewing parks in the rest of the south of the city over the course of the next eight months.
The Bristol Parks Forum, which represents users of more than 100 community parks in the city, will be consulted during the review along with community groups.
At the beginning of next year, plans for south Bristol's parks will be drawn up and residents will be asked for their views in a wider consultation.
The council agreed in February to sell off 90 acres of Bristol's parkland to raise cash for improvements.
The aim is to protect the remaining parks and green spaces for the next 20 years by selling "marginal, surplus land".
It was originally suggested that up to 200 acres could be sold to raise ^100 million for the city council.
And there were fears that only half the money gained from the sale would be spent on maintaining parks.
But the ruling Labour cabinet agreed to sell just 90 acres of lower value land - about 2.4 per cent of public space in the city.
The cabinet also agreed that a minimum of 70 per cent of the proceeds would be reinvested into Bristol's parks and green spaces, with the rest for priorities such as housing, transport and leisure facilities.
The strategy will see the creation of 70 new play areas across the city and help give people better access to open spaces.
It will also see the introduction of park keepers to help tackle safety fears and improve maintenance of the sites.
Bristol South Green Party said it was "crazy to improve an area by selling its assets" and Bristol Parks Forum had raised concerns about the amount of land to be sold off.
The Lib Dems accused the ruling Labour group of selling off parkland in order to balance the books of the authority, which owns 400 parks and open spaces.
