ParkRun to be charged a fee for using the park.

[StuffEverywhere]

Little Stoke Council votes for ParkRun to pay a maintenance charge.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-36041059

I can't believe it.

I run at a local ParkRun and volunteer for a junior ParkRun and think that these events bring the best out of people. They make people healthier and happier, and they make parks lively and full of energy on a Saturday morning. Councils should support them, not the other way around!

My council charges to use othr parks .. (the ones for leaving your car) because they say it costs money to provide the space...

By that logic, it is only right that people using any park should pay .... Actually it is quite a neat idea. If people are charged for use, no one will go in them because people are basically cheapskates. The land could then be used for something else like social housing... (This is a bit toung in cheek you understand.......,, ir is it?)

Urban, there are many many more people making much much more money using public resources... People buying school playing fields, private consultants using NHS resources, private companies running nursing homes, special schools, defence contractors, the list of questionable private profiting from tax payers money is long.

The council, like many others, agreed to provide the location free of charge. They have changed their mind, which is their right. Parkrun and 35,000 other people who have signed the petition, disagree with this decision. You don't. Parkrun have cancelled this weeks run and it will not be the end of Parkrun. Making runners pay would be the end of the concept of free for all forever 5k runs.

I went to the junior park run this morning. Atmosphere was lovely and we litter picked all the rubbish from the footballers as a kind of silent protest.

It occurs to me that the word 'park' may be confusing people. It's not like Richmond park. It's a rec basically. Backs on to the rubbish dump, lots of seagulls, bmx track and about 6 marked out sports pitches. The grass that is suffering all the wear and tear is a strip about 20ft wide around the edge. I took some pics.

Here

And here

Beautiful blue sky Wheres. Not sure what the council is trying to preserve there! Just a normal rec as you say, not exactly a beauty spot . Richmond Park has a huge attendance on its Parkrun incidentally. Haven't been there for yrars, wonder if they charge car parking.

Well done Wheres! I've run the Little Stoke Parkrun. As I recall most of it is on tarmac with just a small area of grass being used at the beginning, although there is a track alongside this. And the bit where you cut across the field to the finish.

This business of charging is ridiculous. I can't get my head around how much money the parish council think they are going to make? Because the whole point of Parkrun is that all over the world at 9am on a Saturday people can, you know, just turn up! So some weeks there could be 200 people and other weeks 20 people (not likely, I know). It's a shame and I think they will have to back down.

Wow Wheres, thanks for the pictures, can't believe we're talking about a bit of an open space here! Parkruns I go to are in beautiful parks with playgrounds, gardens, monuments, fountains, cafes etc and are probably (overall) high maintenance - not that parkrunners sit on the benches or play on the playgrounds of course

Even in the case of these beautiful parks that I go to it's wonderful that parkruns attract so many people - parks are usually empty at this time of the day - and generally speaking there is some tension in the community anyway due to how diverse it is - bringing everyone together the way parkrun does is just genius!

What you can't get from the pictures is the sound of the massive digger moving stuff around at the tip...