Thanks to ITVNews for this headline,Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporter
Bristol Parks planned to charge personal trainers and professional dog walkers/trainers up to £450/ annum to use the local parks to run exercise classes for humans or exercise dogs in Public Parks.
There was uproar, but to be honest, public spaces are just that and if you are running a business , then there is potentially a conflict with those that are using the park for rest and recreation.
Lets get real , these are Public Spaces for everyone and businesses can be very selfish, they are out to make a profit at whatever they are doing and will fight tooth and nail to reduce costs and maximise their sales. Hence the conflict.
Reading the article , I got the impression that the Council did not realise how many small business’s were using Public Spaces, nor do they have a handle on the upset they cause for normal park users.
Potentially some of the business’s don’t even have insurance. Really Council’s do need to know who is using the Parks and protect every user. One of the Conservative Councillor’s argued that the money raised from licence fees would not even cover the costs of administering a licensing scheme and it would be best to leave it as it is. However, surely it is worth monitoring in order to ensure that no business is abusing the situation and also to make the environment in our Public Spaces a pleasure for everyone.
thenotsomightyom 