The future of Eastville Park is hotly contested - on one hand are proposals for a new lido and on the other a community hub.
As the council budget shrinks, parks are being opened up to third party organisations to improve parks and raise revenue to pay for their maintenance.
Bristol City Council has said that the pilot project is not a way of selling off parks but a way to “support and improve” parks through working with “partners and communities.”
READ MORE: Eastville Lido: Major update for pool as new pictures show what it could look like
Although these two interested parties initially worked together to conduct surveys in the local area, their relationship ended when Friends of Eastville Park decided that the lido project would not work in the park.
The Friends are concerned about the environmental impact, the volume of traffic and the financial risk of such a project.
The group of local residents have also raised concerns about The Future Parks decision making process, which they hope will not be done behind closed doors.
If the lido project bid goes ahead it will be built on the old bowling green opposite the tennis courts.
Sarah West, Friends of Eastville Park chair said: “Our collaboration with them ended when we felt it wouldn’t really be right for Eastville park.
“We are not necessarily against the project itself, it would be great on a brownfield site and we definitely need swimming pools in East Bristol.
“There’s also a case that if the lido doesn’t do well, there’s a risk of having a pool in the park that can’t be used.
“If you have a swimming pool right in the heart of the upper park then you’re going to need barriers to stop people from getting in and vandalising it.
“It’s hotly debated at the moment because it’s all about investment in parks and how to generate income.”
A local resident, Pamela Nova, who lives 60 metres away from the proposed location of the lido is concerned about the impact of the estimated 60,000 visitors that the lido architect has proposed.
Like Sarah, she thinks a brownfield site would be more appropriate and has suggested the Eastgate Centre, the industrial units around Rajani’s superstore or the burnt down factory near Ridgeway Park.
Pamela said: “I’m a swimmer and I would love to have a lido within walking or cycling distance from where I live.
“It sounds blissful but the reality is that it’s the wrong site, it’s a greenfield site, it’s a park which has a whole different value for the community and there are loads of brownfield sites.
“Why is a greenfield site being targeted, with the destruction of habitats, disruption to fragile and threatened ecosystems, for what is effectively a massive infrastructure project that will inflict at least two years of disruption on local people?
“Plus, there will be ongoing issues with congestion and noise pollution for the foreseeable future.
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“According to the lido bid, an estimated 60,000 visitors would be coming into the park every year, the bulk, presumably in summer. How will this be managed?
“I've spoken to numerous local people about this and with maybe one or two exceptions they are against this proposal and in favour of the community hub being created in the refurbished Nissen hut, by volunteers who've been slogging for months to upgrade it.
“How would locals, pensioners, people on low incomes, less well off families feel if a large chunk of their local park is effectively off-limits, a kind of gentrification by stealth, which will only benefit those who can pay, while disrupting life for those who can't”
Who are the Friends of Eastville Park proposing?
The Friends of Eastville Park have submitted their bid through the Bristol City Council Future Parks process to host a Community Hub in the upper park recreation area.
The Nissen hut, central to their bid is open to host a wide range of activities from Film Club to yoga and Pilates, crafting groups, wellbeing support groups and a monthly Pop-Up café.
Renovating the space has been a top priority for the group who have combined successful grant funding bids with fundraising activities to bring new insulation, electrics, windows, doors, and a new kitchen.
The Nissen hut dates from World War 2 when troops and prisoners of war were billeted in Eastville Park.
Later the hut became a tea-room for lawn bowlers, but maintenance was sorely neglected for many years.
The Friends of Eastville Park partnered with the bowling team to revive the 100 year plus tradition of lawn bowling.
Volunteers renovated the garden area with the help of Gardeners' World.
More recent work makes the Nissen hut usable all year round and completes the first part of a much larger scheme that will add a regular café, changing rooms, and additional rentable space.
By combining fundraising activities and applications for grant funding the Friends have brought over £200,000 of investment to Eastville park, adding a multi-use games area, spring planting, signage, path improvements, accessibility ramps, and further improvements to the children’s play area.
Funding cuts have pressurised parks maintenance budgets leading to invitations to run schemes in 6 parks across Bristol. However, the Friends show how to provide facilities without a lot of privatisation and commercialised ventures.
Friends of Eastville Park Chair, Sarah West joined the group in 2017 when she discovered after her baby soiled his nappy on a cold winter morning there were no nappy changing facilities or indoor space to keep warm.
Since then a new toilet block has been built and the Nissan Hut has been renovated by the group and used as a pop up cafe.
The group hopes that if they are selected, it will support them to continue with the park maintenance and create a permanent community hub space with regular events and activities.
Sarah told Bristol Live that the group reformed in 2017 after a failed lottery fund bid. She believes the previous bid failed due to the heavy focus on sport.
She said that the newly formed group has a number of dedicated volunteers who are confident they can attract funding by learning from previous mistakes.
They have built up a relationship over the years with the council which allows them to collaborate while at the same time, raise concerns when they arise.
Sarah said: “In terms of Bristol’s parks people have always been against any kind of advertising or any kind of commercialisation.
“There’s been quite a lot of contention around Future Parks and the council is working through that and they’re working through their own process now.
“But we’ve always been working towards finding a way that creates a community space, especially in Eastville because you’ve got lots of different communities around the park and there is a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.
“We did a survey in 2018 to understand what people wanted in the park and how much money they would be willing to spend.
“Some people said nothing, they had no money to spend in the park and they just wanted green spaces to enjoy and other people said they wanted somewhere warm to sit down and have a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
“We’ve run pop up cafes where we’ve had volunteers bake cakes and collect donations.
“We’ve asked artists, musicians and crafters to come in and make that space really cuddly.”
Eastville Park Lido has been approached for comment.
A spokesperson from Bristol City Council said: “An assessment panel is currently reviewing the Expressions of Interest for the Future Parks pilot sites and this will continue throughout January.
"In February we will start contacting residents, community organisations and local businesses who applied to confirm whether their submissions will be progressed. If approved, we will discuss with them how their projects might be delivered.”
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