Welcome to the Victoria Park Action Group website We hope you'll enjoy using this website, and help VPAG to help Victoria Park. You can also visit us on our Facebook page (Victoria Park, Bristol) and follow us on Twitter @vpagbristol Did you know that Victoria Park is a dark sky discovery site? Find out more Dark Sky Discovery Website. VPAG Meetings Every
month we meet to discuss various things relating to Victoria Park
including upcoming events, any issues that have arisen and ongoing
projects, like creating the play areas, wildlife areas, mending benches and many more things. Our next meeting will be on 3rd July 2017 at the Bowling Club, from 7:30 til 9pm, everyone welcome. We're all volunteers who
care about the park and we welcome anyone who wishes to come along and
see what we do. If you fancy volunteering but aren't really sure, we
don't ask for any commitment just the occasional help when you're
available. Typical things we require help with are usually when we have
an event, so it could be helping to put up gazebos, being a warden for
the bonfire night, weeding and planting, delivering flyers or designing a
poster. If this is something that you want to know more about feel free to come to one of our meetings or get in touch.(Posted 14th July) Wildlife Walk Saturday 15th July 2:30-4pm There are still some places left for a wildflower wander around Victoria Park in south Bristol to discover more about the plants found here and the wildlife they support. This is a 1.5 hour gentle ramble around the park, led by botanist Alex Morss. It's a great time to see lots of natives in flower, largely thanks to efforts by many volunteers including hundreds of primary school children, who have been so busy helping us to improve the wildlife habitat here, including sowing, growing and creating mini meadows, building a willow tunnel, coppicing the woods and recording the surprising and often hidden wildlife. The park is home to at least 450 species, including 200+ types of plant. BOOKING Free. Open to all ages. Please book, numbers are limited. You will be contacted re meeting place. ACCESS Access is mostly easy going on paths, but includes some areas of steep slopes and long grass. QUESTIONS Email info@alexmorss.co.uk You can register for the walk at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wildflower-walk-with-victoria-park-wildlife-group-tickets-36041751850 (Posted 10th July) Bench Mending Report There was another Bench mending session on the 8th July. Thanks to Andrew Campbell, Christine Higgott and Mark Bailey for all their hard work. If you'd like to get involved the next session will be on Saturday 5th August 10-12.30. Meet at the Lodge by Mrs Brown's Cafe.   (Posted 21st June) Update on proposals for the Filwood
Quietway through Victoria Park We wish to advise you of new plans for the Filwood Quietway cycle path through Victoria Park, and to tell you how you can have your say on the proposals. After the Council withdrew the previous planning application in January, local residents formed a group called Forward Together and have held three meetings with council officers. During these meetings we have tried to express the opinions of the majority of local residents who objected to the Council’s previous plan. Route. The Council made it clear that an alternative route outside the park would not be considered. Therefore a route is being proposed (see map) following an existing path. (This would include improving and relocating the entrance to the Natural Play Area so that it would not open directly onto the path.)  Width. The proposed path would be a maximum of 3m wide (except for the section near St Mary Redcliffe Primary School where it is already slightly more than 3m wide). It would continue to be shared-use with pedestrian priority. Entrances. Barriers would be retained at the entrances, but the design changed slightly to improve access for wheelchairs, mobility scooters, buggies and bicycles. Trees and wildlife. No trees would be removed and the trees and shrubs in the wildlife corridor along the railway line would not be damaged (but see lighting below). Lighting. Lighting is a difficult issue because of the impact on bats, other wildlife and the park’s ‘dark sky’ status. The Council said they will not consider an alternative to 4.7m-tall standard lamp-posts, and they propose lighting the whole route. We expressed concerns about the impact this would have on the park. As a compromise, we suggested shorter lamp-posts more in keeping with a Victorian Park, and lighting only part of the route from the school towards St Luke’s Road to allow people to exit the park and use the pavements/roads which are already lit at night. Timetable for consultation. The Council is undertaking informal consultation between June 12 and 26 to obtain feedback on the new design, before a formal planning application is submitted in July. Public meeting As part of the informal consultation a public meeting was held at St Michael and All Angels Church June 19th. Your opinion is important - informal feedback is open until 26th June You can leave you comments at https://victoriaparkbristol.commonplace.is/overview
For details of any further developments, please consult the display board near Mrs Brown’s Café or keep visiting the VPAG website at www.vpag.org.uk THANK YOU …………. You will already have heard that as the result of overwhelming opposition Bristol City Council has withdrawn its application for the cycle path through Victoria Park. Thank you to everyone who listened to our concerns, considered the proposal and registered your objections – over 600 of you mostly living within the immediate vicinity of the park, but also including local groups such as TRESA, the governors of St Mary Redcliffe, the Northern Slopes Initiative, Bristol Parks Forum and our MP Karen Smyth. VPAG believe it is important to encourage cycling and walking in South Bristol, and we support the concept of the Filwood Quietway. We hope that we can find a way forward in which the Filwood Quietway project can proceed for the benefit of communities in South Bristol without negative impacts on our park and local community. In view of this, Forward Together has been formed which is a group of local residents and community groups, with the aim of entering into dialogue with Bristol City Council to explore alternatives to the route proposed in planning application 16/06497/F. Please continue to visit www.vpag.org.uk or look at the display board by Mrs Brown’s Café for the latest news. |  This superb copperplate etching by award-winning Totterdown artist Ros Ford captures the timelessness of Victoria Park. The detail is astonishing, yet the etching evokes the spirit and freedom of the park with the playful kite and the wide, open spaces. Ros has kindly permitted us to put this image on the VPAG website. You can see more examples of Ros’s inspirational work by visiting www.ros-ford.co.uk
(Posted 29th May) Wildflower beds news Thanks #GoodGymBristol for your help again this & last weekend on Victoria Park's community/school pollinator areas and willow tunnel. You are like a magic wand for conservation groups! We now have clear post markers & information signage to indicate where the native planting areas are, needed because they are not always obvious to mowers until they flower, especially as they nestle in among long grass. These designated pollinator flower areas are important year-round for a wide range of invertebrates, even while they look green and insignificant. They support lots of caterpillar species and many other invertebrates, several species of hungry bats and hunting tawny owls too. Led by our park Wildlife Group, they are the result of a lot of hard work by volunteers and school children at St Mary Redcliffe Primary, Victoria Park Primary, GoodGym, Woodcraft Elfins and support from Avon Wildlife Trust & Butterfly Conservation.  (Posted 13th January) Caution! VPAG have received a report that sharp screws were found Thursday 12th Jan on the path between Mrs Browns and the skate/play park. We do not know if they had been dropped or left there deliberately. VPAG condemn anti-social behaviour of any type that could harm any park user. If you see anything similar: · Clear it up if possible and safe to do so – thanks · Contact Bristol Council on bristolparks@bristol.gov.uk to report the issue · Tell us by contacting VPAG at info@treasuremind.org or post a tweet including @vpagbristol Let’s keep Victoria Park a great environment for everyone. Graffiti - a problem where you live?There have been reports of graffiti in the Windmill Hill area, we are working with Bristol City Council to tackle these issues, but we need your help.
· When you see graffiti, report it: Report what, where (the precise location) and whether it’s offensive to the Police on 999 (if it’s in progress) or 101 (if it’s already happened) to report it as a crime. This helps us keep track of where graffiti is occurring. You can also report it for removal to Bristol City Council by calling 0117 922 2100 or online: www.bristol.gov.uk/reportgraffitiform . · Fill out an ‘indemnity form’ which gives permission for graffiti to be removed from your property by the Council’s cleansing teams. More information online here: www.bristol.gov.uk/graffiti
More information on graffiti: · The Council aims to remove any undesirable graffiti from public areas · Racist and other offensive graffiti will normally be removed within one working day of the Council receiving permission to remove it. · All other graffiti will normally be removed within three days of the Council receiving permission to remove it (ie if on private property) · Graffiti on bus shelters: Call Clearchannel Adshel on 0800 731 3699. ‘Clearchannel Adshel’ are responsible for the maintenance of bus shelters. Please report all maintenance issues, including graffiti and smashed windowpanes. Make a note of the two numbers on the roof line e.g. 1102 1182
|
 | |
Interactive MapSediment explores the layers of Victoria Park giving a variety of perspectives of the park. Click on the link below to explore and perhaps change your view of Victoria Park. Treasure Mind  Parkhive "...a measure of a city's greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces, its parks and squares." -John Ruskin Helping, innovation, visibility, engagement www.bristolparkhive.com |
|
