Support sport and healthy exercise on Knowle's green spaces!

I urge all readers of this blog to support sport and healthy exercise in local green spaces and sign the 'Save Newquay Rd Playing Fields' e-petition I've helped to organise (background to the issue here). Its supporters and promoters include Anita Pearce from the management committee of Eagle House Community Association, former Bristol City footballer Colston Gwyther who is running training sessions on the playing fields, and the kids, as represented by 10 yr old Kevin Pearce, in this part of Knowle and elsewhere who want to football train, get fit and enjoy green spaces. The petition reads:

We, the undersigned, petition Bristol City Council to abandon any plans to sell off the playing fields on Newquay Rd behind Ilminster School, taking them out of the education remit and Primary School Review process completely, recognizing that they are a valued, fully accessible public open space well used over many years, particularly for football and considering it as fully covered by the council’s Parks and Green Spaces Strategy.

I see that the appearance of the petition has already drawn this brief position statement from the council:

At present (6/11/08) there is no decision on the future of the Newquay Road playing field or the final impact of the primary review on the location of the new primary school to be created from the amalgamation of Illminster Avenue and Connaught. Any future plans will be subject to pre and statutory planning consultation.

Good to get noticed! I'm sure that many locals will strongly express their opinions about what should happen to these fields eg by signing the petition and I hope the council is listening.

European Green Capital Award: Bristol's shortlisting

Apparently 'Bristol has been chosen as the only city in the UK to be short-listed for the European Green Capital award.

The city has been pre-selected alongside seven other European cities from 35 initial applications.

The seven other cities are: Amsterdam in Holland, Copenhagen in Denmark, the German cities of Freiburg, Hamburg and Munster, Oslo in Norway and Stockholm in Sweden.' (more details here).

I really want to be positive about my city but the first step in a rational process of improvement is recognising the current state of affairs. A realistic assessment of how Green Bristol is reveals that it is miles away from deserving the title 'European Green Capital'. I cant agree with the city being on this shortlist. (more here)

It has very heavy traffic congestion and a very poor public transport system and has no plans which demonstrate they can bring about an absolute reduction in traffic. Air quality is thus unhealthy and contribution to climate change very high. (more here)

The much lauded Parks and Green Spaces strategy is not being followed by the council as they are selling off land on an ad hoc basis without Area Green Space Plans in place. This strategy in any case endorses the sell off of many acres of parks and green spaces, undermining policies on healthy activity outdoors, climate change and biodiversity, and making rainwater management and flood prevention harder.(more here)

Instead of focussing in on waste reduction, recycling and composting Bristol's current Labour Cabinet defends plans for the mass incineration of waste, an option with very poor economic and environmental credentials.(more here)

Many thousands of houses are supposed to be built within and around the city, vastly raising its already very high ecological footprint. (more here)

As for the pattern of regeneration, well that given us Cabot Circus which hardly promotes local production for local needs as its all about the mass consumption of goods imported from all over the globe at great social and environmental cost. (more here)