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Bolton Council Fields in Trust agreement could protect parks
This comes with Bolton Council set to decide on entering into a legally binding agreement with the Fields in Trust charity to protected selected parks around the borough.
If agreed, the authority will then start to identify which parks should be protected, with Queens Park in the heart of Bolton expected to be the first to be put forward.
Council cabinet member for climate change and environment Cllr Richard Silvester said: “Officers are presenting a report to me at my Executive Cabinet Member meeting on Monday December 8so that a formal process can be established between Bolton Council and the Fields In Trust charity, in order that parks around the Borough which are not already protected, can be in due course through a Deed of Dedication, which is a legally binding agreement.
“I will make the official decision for this partnership to be established, which I will do, and for the process to start as it is a priority of the Labour administration that as many parks and open spaces have such protection.
“The report sets out the criteria and what is involved and I am expecting Queens Park to be the first one on the list to have such protection in the new year.”
The Fields in Trust charity has been working to protect parks and green spaces around the country for the last century, having been founded back in 1925.
The charity protects green spaces and parks around the country in perpetuity and also carries out research and lobbies the government to recognise their importance.
A council report said: “Bolton has 69 public parks within the borough, each with its own character.
“They range from the grand Victorian formality of Queens Park to the beautiful natural setting of Moses Gate and the sports fields of Leverhulme Park.
“These neighbourhood parks play a vital role at the centre of their communities.”
It added: “Bolton’s parks provide many benefits to the borough’s residents, including improved health and wellbeing, places for outdoor recreation and access, valuable sites for nature and biodiversity, and other ecosystem services such as urban cooling and the management of flood risk.”
The report said that protecting the environment and green spaces was one of the council’s top priorities.
It said: “To ensure that the borough’s parks are protected, this report proposes working with Fields in Trust, a charity which aims to protect individual parks and green spaces, so that they can never be sold for development, and remain available in perpetuity for the benefit of Bolton’s residents and visitors.”
The council report says that if it enters into the agreement with the trust, eligible parks must meet several criteria.
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They say that the council must own the space by having a freehold interest or a leasehold interest of at least 99 years.
The green spaces in question must also be used for “for informal physical activity and recreation, or formal sport” and should be at least 0.2 hectares.
Green spaces will not be suitable for protection if public access is restricted by exclusive events and activities that take up more than half the space for more than three months a year.
Council cabinet member for climate change and environment Cllr Richard Silvester is expected to decide on approving the report at a meeting on Monday December 8.
