Friends of Emersons Green Park
Record of meeting held in the Jefferies Room, Village Hall at 6pm, 8th April 2014
Present:
Martin Cooney, Tony Flood, Joy Flood, Margaret Boon, Julie Braybrooke, Brian Braybrooke, Cllr Dave Kearns, Cllr Colin Hunt, John Morris (South Glos), Simon Penfold (Arboriculturalist), Lee Hayward (Groundsman) Neville Wooding, David Barker, Sue Andrew, Chris Sunderland (Chair)
Minutes: Chris Sunderland opened the meeting by saying that the recent works had caused many people to think about the park. Many different types of people used the park and various opinions had been expressed. The Friends group was being set up to ensure that the park is maintained as a place of natural beauty which all its varied users can enjoy, to keep people in touch with what is going on in the park, to provide a means of consultation with South Glos about developments in the park and to generally encourage community life in Emersons Green. These aims were accepted without discussion by the group. He then invited John Morris to explain the rationale behind the recent work.
John Morris said that 25 of the Council’s parks were maintained by the Council with the help of Friends of the Parks groups. He then explained that, in Emersons Green original development, the attenuation ponds were incorporated as part of the drainage scheme. The ponds were designed to deal with a 1 in 100 year flooding event. Maintenance of these areas had not been done consistently, resulting in silting up of the channels. The recent major works had been necessary to remove vegetation, but unfortunately completion had been stopped by bad weather. The Council plan to restart the work in late July (this will include the pond area behind the garage). The area once re-established will be subject to twice yearly conservation cuts and a 10 year maintenance cycle regarding silt removal.
It was queried why stumps had been poisoned where trees had been removed. Simon Penfold said this was to prevent regrowth below anticipated water levels.
Chris questioned the nature of the work that had been done, whether it needed to be quite so drastic and felt that the trees and vegetation would have a minimal effect on water levels. There had been a lack of real consultation regarding the nature and extent of the work. Certain trees had been removed inexplicably near the wooden bridge.
One issue that had been raised by several people concerned the stagnant stream running under the wooden footbridge. A former resident of Emersons Green lane had told Chris that the now stagnant stream had flowed well before the original Emersons Green development took place and wondered if alterations to drainage have occurred since that time. There appears to be foul water entering the system. John Morris has flagged this to be investigated by the Environment agency.
The adjacent culvert and ditch carry a lot of water in times of heavy rain and the bank is deeply scoured. SGC have also identified this area as a health and safety risk and fencing work will be carried out in the next 2/3 weeks.
Future management issues
There was an original plan for areas of wild flowers in the park, which was never properly executed. It was proposed that this be reinstated, but it may be that the soil is not currently suitable. The substantial regrowth of nettles and docks already taking place indicates a soil that may be too nutrient rich for wild flowers.
Consultations between the Friends and the Council would be very important to select areas to be improved which would not be damaged by future de-silting. Some areas could be seeded with wildflowers and others with bulbs – or a mixture, and planting carried out at the edge of the ponds. It was pointed out that rushes would need to be controlled as they slow the flow of water and encourage silt deposits (one Friend immediately declared herself willing to don waders).
In the future it is hoped that children/schools can use the ponds for pond dipping and nature walks.
Friends will be covered by SGC insurance when group is formally constituted. Chris said he understood this process and could take it forward.
Councillor Hunt said that grants were available for Friends organisations.
Other issues
Martin Cooney raised the issue of council vans making ruts in the grass. The principle cause of this is a bollard placed without consultation as part of the new cycle track works, meaning council maintenance vehicles go over the grass. The bollard is to be removed shortly. Lee Hayward explained that some parking on grass occurred because it was necessary to leave space for pushchairs and wheelchairs on the paths. David Barker suggested the possibility of hardstandings for this purpose.
It was pointed out that the muddy tracks encouraged youngsters to take motorbikes ‘off road’.
It was queried whether the dog bins were going to be removed. Councillor Hunt said that the responsibility for dog bins had been taken over by the Parish Council.
Signs on the dog bins have worn away and new clear signs were requested – it was suggested that Friends contact the Streetcare Dog Warden for signs.
A request was also made for an additional litter bin at the Langley Arms end of the park.
It was felt that cyclists ride too quickly in the park and are a hazard to other park users. Various types of signs were suggested to address this but nothing agreed at this stage.
Sainsbury’s trolleys have been dumped in ditches in the park. Councillor Hunt said that Sainsbury’s hire a company, Trolleywise, to collect escaped trolleys each week. Trolleys can be notified to Sainsbury’s directly for them to arrange collection or to StreetCare.
Post meeting note: The litter pickers feel that Sainsbury’s should be responsible for their trolleys. They have an excellent trolley gatherer named Clive who regularly patrols to remove stray trolleys. Please inform Sainsbury’s and Clive will retrieve trolleys or Trolleywise will be notified.
During a brief post meeting walk around the park Lee Hayward agreed that the area exposed by the tree and shrub removal required a concentrated litter pick and agreed to arrange this.
