Messages are welcome on any subject relating to Troopers Hill Local Nature Reserve; the surrounding area of St George and Crews Hole or any of Bristol's Parks and Green Spaces.
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Rob
 Jan 14, 08 - 9:36 PM |
Sale of 200 acres of Bristol's Parks
Some of you will have seen the headlines in last Thursday's Evening Post about the proposed sale of 200 acres of Bristol's Parks as part of the Parks and Green Spaces Strategy (P&GSS). This figure came from financial information in the revised strategy that was being considered by the Council Cabinet - it is significantly different from the the figure that was in the consultation document that was published last year. On Thurday the Parks and Green Spaces Strategy was withdrawn from Cabinet consideration on a technical point. There is therefore a few weeks to get the council to improve the financial commitment and to stop the sale of large areas of public open space. If you take out the Downs, Blaise Castle Estate and Ashton Court, none of which are likely to be sold, 200 acres represents 10% of the remaining park land. I have tried to explain the figures in detail below. If you object to this sale please write to your Local Councilor and to make them aware of your views. Given the amount of land that cannot be sold for various reasons then for 200 acres to be sold nowhere is safe! The figures (as I understand them): Both versions of the strategy agree on the amount that needs to be spent to bring Bristol's Parks up to a good standard over the next 20 years. The capital investment required will be £87 million. Once this has been spent they will then need £4.2m per year in life-cycle costs to keep them in this condition - this is to replace benches, signs, paths surfaces etc. as the new works wear out. This is in addition to the day to day maintenance such as grass cutting, litter clearance, emptying dog bins etc. The draft strategy last year said that of the £87m, £36m would come from the sale of park land. Cllr Rosalie Walker at the Parks Forum meeting said that 80% would be reinvested in parks. At £1m per acres this would mean selling 45 acres of land to raise £45m (80% of £45m = £36m). We were assured that this would be 'low value' green space, mostly in South Bristol and that all these disposals would be disscussed and agreed locally. There were no details in the draft strategy about where the £4.2m per year would come from. The revised strategy published for Cabinet consideration, and only made public 1 week before the meeting, changed the figures for where the money would come from. It said that £51m of the £87m capital investment would now come from the sale of parks, with a corresponding reduction in the money taken from developers. It also said that only half of this would be reinvested in parks. At £1m per acre this means selling 102 acres to raise £102m half of which goes to parks. The revised strategy also says that the £4.2m per year life-cycle costs would come from capital funding (which means land sales). It appears that the intention is to fund this by investing a pot of money that will generate the £4.2m each year. If a return of 5% is assumed then £84m needs to be invested. Asuuming that this £84m is raised in the same proportion as the £87m then that would require £49m from the sale of parks. Again assuming that the 50% figure is used that would mean selling 98 acres at £1m per acre. Thus the sales required are 102 acres for the initial capital investment and 98 acres to fund the life-cycle costs; total 200 acres. The council also gets £100m to spend on other things. This may seem a lot, but remember it is over 20 years so it is only £5m per year for a council that spends over £325m each year. |
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Roger
Jan 18th, 2008 - 10:02 PM |
Re: Sale of 200 acres of Bristol's Parks
Not been here for some time (broke my coccyx and had a bout of pneumonia) but been keeping tabs on BCC and like my father said 'never trust a politician'. I would reccomend that you read http://thebristolblogger.wordpress.com/ for a (possibly slightly biassed) view of what BCC get up to. My personal view is that each political party spends too much time and effort 'slagging off' the opposition, aattempting to gain 'brownie' points rather than focussing on the real issues in each constituency/ward. On a local council basis it's probably more 'biased' than on a 'proper' election basis. Anyway, back to business, did you really expect BCC to NOT want to sell off land to make money? NO, nor me! I have been up front about saying in the past, when they build on Troopers Hill I will be first in the queue ! !!! |
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Rob
Jan 18th, 2008 - 11:32 PM |
Re: Sale of 200 acres of Bristol's Parks
There is a Parks Forum meeting tomorrow where these issues will be discussed with Bristol Parks. The Parks Forum has also been invited to talk to members of the Cabinet about the issues next week. We will be able to report on what was said at our meeting on Wednesday. If you look at the webcasts of Tuesday's state of the City debate and the last Cabinet meeting you will be able to see Alison Bromilow putting forward the Parks Forum's case. |
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