Trees, parks and the financial crisis
The recent decisions made by the City Council in response to the drastic cuts made by the government will create a dramatically changed world for the whole Bristol environment. We have got used to our street trees being manicured, our parks being regularly mown and tended, new trees being widely and enthusiastically planted, developer’s plans being closely monitored. We may have moaned about minor inefficiencies, criticised delays and decisions, but we have expected to be listened to and mostly we have been.
It is all going to change. By 2020 Bristol parks are going to have to find their own finance, parks users will have to pay for the privilege of using them and parks groups will have to take over maintenance. Street trees will cease to be pollarded. Last winter leaves were not swept until they had all fallen, and only now have most gutters been cleared. Next autumn sweep your own gutters and keep your own gutters clear, the Council won’t be able to do it!
And it will be no use protesting, shouting, writing rude e-mails to your local Councillor. There is little that they can do. Its put-your-money-time-and-effort-where-your-mouth-is time. Getting out there, talking and co-operating with your neighbours, getting wet, doing the stuff that needs to be done – as many are already doing. There are lots of dangers in this. There will be a degree of chaos, there will be mistakes. But it is also an opportunity to ‘act local’ and show that we are all responsible for where we live, that the parks are our parks, that we value trees and our public spaces, that we don’t expect “them” to solve all our problems.
And there will be some ‘up side’. The natural world is an exuberant world. Things may be less tidy, but biodiversity thrives in messy places. Unswept gutters and untrimmed hedges may cause problems, but we can help ourselves to resolve these issues – and hedge trimmings and fallen leaves makes great leaf mould.
Here is the a “dead hedge” on the downs, rebuilt by volunteer labour last month to help protect the wildflower meadow beside it from joggers; just one example of what self-help can do.
Who knows, we might even get our urban sparrows back.
Richard Bland March 2017
