Concerns about the future of parks across Birmingham
The City Council have confirmed the latest service to be cut
Concerns have emerged over the future of Birmingham’s parks as the city council confirmed the latest service to be cut.
The authority’s financial crisis has resulted in an enormous array of services, from bin collections and libraries to cultural grants and street lighting, being impacted by cuts and ‘reviews’ following this year’s budget meeting.
Now the local authority has said the level of support provided through the park ranger service will have to be reduced as it looks to make savings.
Chris Blythe, chair of the Birmingham Open Spaces Forum, said the park rangers had previously “provided advice, given logistical support and run sessions” for community and ‘Friends Of’ groups in the past.
He continued the changes could potentially have an affect on such groups and urged the council to keep them in the loop.
“As the open spaces forum, we have a really good relationship with the city council and we would want that to continue,” he said. “It’s about continuing the dialogue.”
Liberal Democrat councillor Izzy Knowles was among those left worried by the changes, writing on X, formerly Twitter: “This is very bad news for the volunteer and friends groups that work so hard in our parks and open spaces, relying on rangers for help and advice.”
The councillor, who is running as the Lib Dems’ candidate in the Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley constituency, continued that the changes could mean “out of hours issues won’t be addressed and our parks will become less safe”.
Team4Nature, who have campaigned for a Brum Biosphere, responded by saying “there’s simply no words to describe the feeling of sadness and disappointment”.
Friends of Kings Heath simply added: “Very sad indeed.”
In response, Birmingham City Council acknowledged it was having to make savings across many areas and added that the park ranger service was “no exception”.
“As part of the service review, vacant posts have been removed along with the out of hours patrol service and there has been a reduction in ranger hubs,” a council spokesperson said.
“The service needs to be more targeted with activities focused on the most deprived wards in the city, as per the City of Nature 25 year plan.
“While the level of support given previously from the Ranger Service to ‘Friends Of’ groups and community groups will have to be reduced, the Ranger Service will continue to deliver and increase delivery of community activities with the aim of increasing participation, volunteering and appreciation of our green spaces across 46 nominated park sites in the most deprived areas of the city.”
“The parks team will of course be there to provide advice and support so that our existing Friends Groups can continue to make their contributions to their local sites as much as possible,” they added.
The council’s bleak financial position is down to Birmingham-specific issues, such as an equal pay fiasco and the disastrous implementation of a new IT and finance system, as well as the rising demand for services and funding cuts.
Council leader John Cotton previously condemned the Conservative government and argued councils across the country face a perfect storm of smaller budgets and higher costs while Tory politicians, such as Rishi Sunak, have criticised the mistakes made by the Labour council administration.