Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 25,016
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Post by Robbie on Apr 13, 2016 23:38:23 GMT 1
... the runners for using council parks In might what be the first example of councils threatening to charge for people trying to have both fun and trying to keep healthy, a parish council in Bristol have threatened organisers with a charge of up to £100,000 as the "wear and tear" is causing problems www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-36041059The organisers have now cancelled the run on Saturday. The council are idiots. These runs, which some here at Haven take part in, are very popular, and they get people keeping active and just as importantly, having fun. Now what's the odds that as one council starts to charge, others will now charge? Could this be the end of Parkruns? |
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Post by Panda on Apr 13, 2016 23:41:50 GMT 1
There's been such a backlash, it's hard to see other councils following suit. The Parkrun volunteers and 300 runners should just turn up and do it anyway. What are the council going to do? Call the police and have them all arrested for running?
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Post by suedehead on Apr 13, 2016 23:43:11 GMT 1
With luck, the fact that the event has been called off will deter other councils from trying to charge. Unfortunately, all councils are strapped for cash at the moment, and most of them are looking at any possible way of raising money.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Apr 14, 2016 10:11:02 GMT 1
The problem is councils are being squeezed. They have two options, let parks got to wreck and ruin because they can't afford the upkeep or close a library or other public service to priorities parks
I know some councils overspend and are reckless with our money but the vast majority were doing a great job for the community but they have been squeezed by government cuts. Bristol had their budget cut by 10m and put on hold the closure of 7 libraries, they were just trying to find a fair way to keep these services open and if runners do 100,000 worth of damage to parks then it has to be found from somewhere. When the tories roll out devolution so councils have less money and all the blame you will hear stories like this every day
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Post by o on Apr 14, 2016 12:11:01 GMT 1
The daft thing is, other people will regularly run in those same parks, yet they can run for free as long as they aren't in the park run? What about people with pushchairs, surely they cause more wear and tear than just normal feet, charge them double!  |
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Apr 14, 2016 12:32:46 GMT 1
They should just sell everything off to coca cola and apple. Have coca cola sponsored parks run for profit and apple owned libraries with the prime aim of selling you apple products to read your books on as they do away with real books. I for one welcome our new i-libraries
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Post by LittleChristmasTurkey on Apr 14, 2016 12:43:58 GMT 1
The published stories mention that Parkrun is run by volunteers in a woe-is-us we-have-no-money type fashion, but there's enough sloshing around for the organising board to be paid very healthy salaries.
Parkrun is a limited company - formed with the intention of making money. They are NOT a charity.
The council do incur costs for events such as these, and trying to recoup some of that from a profit-making limited company isn't unreasonable.
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