Here is part of an email sent out by Stockport Greenspace Forum chair Sue Colman yesterday in relation to the Parks and Open Spaces Consultation:
A big vote of thanks is due to all the Friends groups and the Greenspace Forum for the response to the Council Consultation on the proposed £1m cut to the Parks green space maintenance budget.
Over 2,800 responses were received – the highest level received by any previous online Council consultation and this is due to all the work the Forum and Friends Groups did in organising local meetings, urging community groups to take part and making everyone aware of the threat to the maintenance of parks and green spaces.
On the 12th July the Executive Committee of Stockport Council accepted the results of the consultation and agreed to reduce the cut to the Parks budget to about £550,000, half the amount that was originally planned.
Stockport Greenspace Forum meets regularly with Councillor Stuart Bodsworth, Executive Councillor for Communities & Sustainability, Megan Black, Head of Public Realm and Barry Brockbank from SolutionsSK. During these meetings, problems reported by Friends groups are discussed and very often action taken immediately, and the views of the Forum are taken into consideration on a variety of issues.