Agenda item

There will be a presentation by Hayley Ash for this item.

Jonathan James (Head of Parks) introduced this report and made the following comments:

·         The Bristol Future Parks Project operated to Rethink, Invest and Regenerate in parks across the city

·         This project was intended to be a step change in the way parks operated in future

·         A partnership would be formed across different sectors improving health and well being for all users

·         It was intended to encourage greater use and accessibility and create different funding models

·         Funding was a collaborative venture involving the National Trust, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, together with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government

·         The Future Parks Accelerator Programme operated across 80 different Local Authorities in the UK. This was a fast and agile programme for 2 years which had already run for 6 months

·         Since parks were not statutory, they had been hit hard by austerity with funding reduced from 6 Million to 2 Million. Attempts were being made to reverse this trend and obtain greater equity of funding. Officers were looking at different commercial opportunities.

·         Officers were working with communities organisations and businesses to find a sustainable solution to maintain and improve health and well being for all

·         The project had various cross cutting themes including communities, health and well being, biodiversity and nature, enterprise

·         A dedicated team had been set up to deliver change by supporting citizens, communities and small organisations to enable them to be part of this change

·         The project would secure expert advice to explore new ways of income generation and business opportunities and also invite expressions of interest

·         The timeline had been reviewed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result the marketing campaign would not be taking place until February and March 2021 with community events taking place in the meantime

·         A pilot project would be taking place between September and December 2020

·         Expressions of interest were being sought for any proposed changes in parks and green spaces

In response to questions from Committee Members, the Head of Parks made the following comments:

·         A presentation at the National Trust which had recently been attended by some Committee Members was part of the same project. Similarly, the work being carried out by Charlie Bennett, Bristol and Bath Parks Foundation, was also connected to this. The project would look at parks and green spaces across the whole city and consider if there were any commercial opportunities available. Colleagues from Public Health would also be involved and would be subject to a budget. A better idea of the likely opportunities could be made once expressions of interest had been received

·         The issue of officer time and capacity would be a challenge. Evaluation and discussions with organisations would be taking place. Support from the Downs Committee would be appreciated

·         Any expressions of interest in the Downs would require the involvement of the Site Permissions Team. There could be an issue with capacity due to the limited numbers of staff

·         There would be opportunities with income generation requiring close work with communities where needed. The criteria for this would be assessed. It was important not to stifle innovation. There may be opportunities in catering, ice cream van and theatre. As in other parts of the country, work would take place with groups such as the National Trust to develop any new ideas

·         No assessment would be made for each individual park of the likely financial opportunities as some would be honeypot sites. The wealth could be spread across the entire estate with an aspiration to get income back to previous levels

·         There was no commitment for the Committee for any of the opportunities that arose. Any income generated on the Downs would remain within it

·         The process would enable the Downs Committee to be signposted to any external organisation that provided an opportunity to be further investigated

Committee Members made the following comments:

·         Whilst this Parks initiative should be welcomed, the Downs Committee had its own initiative and had achieved financial break even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Third party funding would also be welcomed

·         An inclusion of the Downs Committee at an early stage in the process was very helpful. The Committee could examine expressions of interest on a case by case basis and was using an existing process. There was no commitment. It could be helpful in bringing to the Committee’s attention to something that it had not previously thought of.

The Head of Parks confirmed that a pilot scheme would be operating for the next few months and would test decision-making as well as obtaining clarity on funding arrangements.

ACTION: Head of Parks to bring a report back to a future meeting.