Category: Unnecessary Developments

Free, infor­mal access to con­tin­ue

The last 10 months may have seemed the qui­etest since 2002, when the City Academy’s plans to devel­op Pack­ers Field first became pub­lic knowl­edge.

In fact, the work of local cam­paign­ers try­ing to main­tain free pub­lic access to Pack­ers has con­tin­ued through­out this peri­od, and is to be reward­ed with the imple­men­ta­tion of a Com­mu­ni­ty Use Agree­ment, or CUA. This CUA should uphold the right of local peo­ple to con­tin­ue to use the site for infor­mal sport and leisure, as they have done for gen­er­a­tions. This is good news for local res­i­dents of all ages and back­grounds, in advance of the field re-open­ing in April or May.

What is a CUA?
A CUA is a doc­u­ment that is required when coun­cils and gov­ern­ment give fund­ing to devel­op sports facil­i­ties. It is a signed legal doc­u­ment that makes it clear who can use the facil­i­ties and who is respon­si­ble for man­ag­ing them. In the case of Pack­ers, the CUA will be signed by the City Acad­e­my and Bris­tol City Coun­cil.

His­to­ry of the Pack­ers Field CUA
The imple­men­ta­tion of a CUA was one of the con­di­tions attached to plan­ning per­mis­sion grant­ed to the Acad­e­my. How­ev­er, this does not tell the whole sto­ry. ‘Com­mu­ni­ty use’ refers pri­mar­i­ly to offi­cial, organ­ised groups of peo­ple who book the facil­i­ties (sports clubs, schools, etc). The rights of infor­mal users (e.g. walk­ers, kite-fly­ers, chil­dren hav­ing a ‘kick­about’) are not auto­mat­i­cal­ly cov­ered by a CUA. Indeed, the Acad­e­my stat­ed from the begin­ning that its com­mit­ment was only to organ­ised sport. The orig­i­nal CUA pro­posed by the Acad­e­my in 2005 con­sist­ed of just a few para­graphs, with no mean­ing­ful con­tent regard­ing pub­lic use or the Academy’s respon­si­bil­i­ties. It was under­stand­ably reject­ed by local peo­ple. The new agree­ment that has been agreed and signed is a robust, mean­ing­ful doc­u­ment, WRITTEN AND PROPOSED BY MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY. Both of these doc­u­ments are avail­able to view at www.packersfield.org.uk.

The CUA now allows the local com­mu­ni­ty and the school to enjoy the ben­e­fits of this green space, as has always been the inten­tion of cam­paign­ers. How­ev­er, the man­age­ment of the CUA by the Acad­e­my will need to be mon­i­tored close­ly by all par­ties, as some ques­tions remain over how the Acad­e­my can be held to account to do what it says it will do.

What does the Pack­ers CUA mean for local peo­ple?

The CUA sets out a num­ber of impor­tant guar­an­tees for infor­mal users of the field. These include:
— Free pub­lic access to the site at all times between 7.30am and dusk.
— The City Acad­e­my to be respon­si­ble for main­te­nance and safe­ty of site.
— Annu­al con­sul­ta­tion meet­ings with the Acad­e­my to dis­cuss progress of infor­mal use of the site, includ­ing griev­ances /
con­cerns. Local res­i­dents are strong­ly encour­aged to attend these pub­lic meet­ings.

Infor­mal users of Pack­ers also have respon­si­bil­i­ties under the terms of the CUA. These include:
— Not inter­fer­ing with for­mal sports activ­i­ties on the field or pos­ing a health and safe­ty risk to oth­er users.
— Mov­ing to oth­er parts of the site if rea­son­ably request­ed to do so by ground staff.
— Not walk­ing dogs on the site.

This is only a brief sum­ma­ry of the agreed CUA. For a more detailed under­stand­ing of its con­tent, please con­sult the orig­i­nal doc­u­ment at

www.packersfield.org.uk/news/cua2.htm or by con­tact­ing the City Acad­e­my.

Future devel­op­ment of Pack­ers Field?
It has long been pub­lic knowl­edge that the Acad­e­my and Bris­tol City Coun­cil are keen to devel­op an ath­let­ics facil­i­ty on Pack­ers Field. A pre­vi­ous plan for a sta­di­um and arti­fi­cial run­ning track was quick­ly retract­ed fol­low­ing pub­lic oppo­si­tion, but both par­ties have since made clear their desire to see an ath­let­ics facil­i­ty on the site. This pos­es some very seri­ous chal­lenges for the future, not least to the valid­i­ty of the CUA itself. If an ath­let­ics facil­i­ty were to be locat­ed on the site, any free space for infor­mal use would undoubt­ed­ly be lost. It is also a very real pos­si­bil­i­ty that flood­lights will be part of the plan, which would affect many peo­ple in White­hall and Green­bank. This may well become the next part of the cam­paign and will again need pop­u­lar local sup­port to stop it form hap­pen­ing.

Let’s end on a pos­i­tive note! The Acad­e­my has made con­sid­er­able con­ces­sions on its orig­i­nal vision for Pack­ers Field, due to the strength and ini­tia­tive of the local com­mu­ni­ty. These con­ces­sions are a trib­ute to every per­son who has signed a peti­tion, writ­ten a let­ter, attend­ed a meet­ing or just sup­port­ed the cam­paign with words of encour­age­ment. The future of the field is still a long way from cer­tain, but what we have achieved so far should give us the belief that we can fur­ther influ­ence events and deci­sions.

To cel­e­brate this pos­i­tive devel­op­ment in the cam­paign, there will be a social evening at the White Hart pub on White­hall Road on Sun­day 30th March from 8 till late. There will be live bands, DJs and the chance to catch up with peo­ple who have sup­port­ed the cam­paign over the last few years. Entry is free, although dona­tions towards the ongo­ing costs of the cam­paign are appre­ci­at­ed. All wel­come, please come along.

http://www.packersfield.org.uk

Word Doc­u­ment Leaflet deliv­ered to White­hall res­i­dents