2016-06-20 12:24:12 +0100
To: Bristol City Council
Bristol City Council - don't destroy our parks, build on brownfield land instead!
The Council should be building on derelict brownfield sites, not destroying the beautiful parks, which are for the residents and workers of Bristol.
Why is this important?
Bristol City Council is destroying a beautiful local park - Abingdon Road open space, Fishponds - in order to build a large extension to the local junior school. We appreciate that schools are very important, but would urge the Council to develop the plentiful local brownfiled sites instead. There is a lot of this land which is nearer to the original school, some of which actually has much more parking and direct access to the local cycletrack, than the park they are intending to destroy. But sadly the nearest brownfield land is privately owned by a landlord who's been landbanking it for nearly three decades, he'll only sell it when house prices peak, so the locals will not be able to afford to live there in any case. We urge the Council to consider their environmental responsibilities - what sort of city are we leaving for our kids if the Council chooses to destroy the parks, and yet leaves the vandalised wasteland empty? They should be liaising with the private landlords to avoid this situation where locals suffer because of non-resident landlords, who don't care at all about the area.
The locals use the park all the time for commuting safely by bike or on foot, avoiding the overcrowded busy street. It's a beautiful little haven for kids and dogwalkers with a friendly community of locals who really enjoy using it every single day.
Because of the huge amount of constuction traffic, residents will not be able to park in their own street for the year of the build, and are having to put up with huge and badly thought-out new one way system which will affect the whole area between Fishponds, Easton and Speedwell.
The park itself is not suitable for a build of this size and the street itself, Abingdon Road, is far too small for a construction of this size. The park, as part of an old mine workings, is also contaminated, and subsiding. A school absolutely should not be built on this field - the soil should not be disturbed. It has been proved to contain large amounts of asbestos, mercury, antimony, arsenic and lead, which we feel should be left in situ. The whole thing is a massive landfill tip, not suitable for any excavation so near to a densely-packed residential area. The building company, Skanska, insist that putting the whole thing on twelve metre piles will cure this problem. This will be horrifically expensive, paid for by we Council Tax payers; and the noise + scale of the construction will be overwhelming. The proposed new building is not at all environmentally or aesthetically well thought out. This is entirely the wrong site for this massive construction.
The street will become a far more crowded and noisy place to live due to this build - 180 kids already are at the original school at one end of Abingdon Road; at school-run times of day it clogs up badly; there's also a popular mosque on this street, which is already at absolute peak capacity for cars and parking. It simply cannot take any more traffic - it's a small street with a very dangerous bend on it. And yet the Council want to bring a further 380 kids, and the associated parents and staff, into an area which is already bursting with traffic.
The Council have been not at all helpful over the years, they claim they have had consultations and reviews which the locals have been unaware of - they seem to be pushing it through wthout any kind of accountability. It has been a real struggle trying to get information out of them. And now residents had a letter through their doors which says the park will be ripped up on Monday 27th June - we have been given very little warning. There has been a huge lack of due process and democratic consultation.
We would urge Bristol City Council to step back and look at the big picture - develop the derelict wasteland, don't build on the local parks! Please sign to show the Council that priority should be given to residents, not landlords.
The locals use the park all the time for commuting safely by bike or on foot, avoiding the overcrowded busy street. It's a beautiful little haven for kids and dogwalkers with a friendly community of locals who really enjoy using it every single day.
Because of the huge amount of constuction traffic, residents will not be able to park in their own street for the year of the build, and are having to put up with huge and badly thought-out new one way system which will affect the whole area between Fishponds, Easton and Speedwell.
The park itself is not suitable for a build of this size and the street itself, Abingdon Road, is far too small for a construction of this size. The park, as part of an old mine workings, is also contaminated, and subsiding. A school absolutely should not be built on this field - the soil should not be disturbed. It has been proved to contain large amounts of asbestos, mercury, antimony, arsenic and lead, which we feel should be left in situ. The whole thing is a massive landfill tip, not suitable for any excavation so near to a densely-packed residential area. The building company, Skanska, insist that putting the whole thing on twelve metre piles will cure this problem. This will be horrifically expensive, paid for by we Council Tax payers; and the noise + scale of the construction will be overwhelming. The proposed new building is not at all environmentally or aesthetically well thought out. This is entirely the wrong site for this massive construction.
The street will become a far more crowded and noisy place to live due to this build - 180 kids already are at the original school at one end of Abingdon Road; at school-run times of day it clogs up badly; there's also a popular mosque on this street, which is already at absolute peak capacity for cars and parking. It simply cannot take any more traffic - it's a small street with a very dangerous bend on it. And yet the Council want to bring a further 380 kids, and the associated parents and staff, into an area which is already bursting with traffic.
The Council have been not at all helpful over the years, they claim they have had consultations and reviews which the locals have been unaware of - they seem to be pushing it through wthout any kind of accountability. It has been a real struggle trying to get information out of them. And now residents had a letter through their doors which says the park will be ripped up on Monday 27th June - we have been given very little warning. There has been a huge lack of due process and democratic consultation.
We would urge Bristol City Council to step back and look at the big picture - develop the derelict wasteland, don't build on the local parks! Please sign to show the Council that priority should be given to residents, not landlords.
