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The lake at St George Park, Bristol(Image: Sophie Grubb\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\nThe Greens say it ‘goes against the values of the city’The lake at St George Park, Bristol(Image: Sophie Grubb\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n
A controversial plan that would have seen people charged for using Bristol’s open spaces<\/a> has been paused just days after its proposal.<\/p>\n The move would have charged professionals such as dog walkers and fitness instructors hundreds of pounds to use parks across the city. As part of new licensing requirements being introduced next month, anyone offering paid-for services in parks and green spaces managed by Bristol City Council<\/a> would need to pay for a licence.<\/p>\n It included people running exercise classes such as boot camps, yoga and walking groups, who faced needing to apply for a licence in order to operate in Bristol\u2019s parks from Wednesday, October 1.<\/p>\n The aim of this scheme was to help keep people safe, protect parks, and support fair access to Bristol\u2019s shared spaces. But now only days after the proposal, the ruling Greens have ‘paused’ the plan.<\/p>\n Bristol Greens say they believe that the fees associated with the parks licensing scheme as currently proposed are inappropriate and go against many of the values the city. It comes after widespread backlash<\/a>, with thousands signing a petition <\/a>urging a “more reasonable” fee and one woman claiming she would face a bill of more than \u00a320,000 a year.<\/a><\/p>\n A statement from the Green councillor group said: \u201cWe are glad that following discussions with the Chair of the Public Health and Communities Committee, the scheme will be paused while the council gets a clearer understanding of the businesses operating in our parks and the impact the proposed fees will have.<\/p>\n