Parking victory for the Downs campaigners is very welcome

THE victory of the campaigners Downs for People who have been fighting to stop the Downs being used for car parking is very welcome (Post, May 25, p12).

All who love the Downs are grateful, although the spending of so much private and public money in order to establish an obvious legal point does seem amazing. “Open and unenclosed” means just that; no parking, no rope barriers, no private use.

Can I add a couple of points. In the Post, on the same day, is an article about the International Festival of the Sea in Bristol harbour in 1996.

At the time, the Festival approached and asked the Downs Committee to use the Downs as a car park. There would be a shuttle bus service to take visitors from the Downs to the harbour.

The Downs Committee considered and rejected this request.

However the fact that Zoo car parking was going on at the time was quoted as a good reason for also allowing car parking for the Festival of the Sea.

The Merchants say in their statement: “We could never anticipate any other non-Downs requirements for parking ...” They should pay more attention to their own history.

The Minutes of the Downs Committee record clearly that, over the years, various organisations have come and asked for permission to park on the Downs for non-Downs activities. Without Downs for People’s victory, what stops the Downs Committee making another “parking exception”, as they have done for the Zoo for decades?

My other point is that, in the Post also on the same day, is a letter from Lin Dyer about house building on the old airport site in Whitchurch.

Lin points out there is a huge green space in Bristol we call the Downs which would accommodate more than 1,400 houses, and perhaps the planners need to consider that instead.

Tongue firmly in cheek, of course, and I sympathise with Lin over losing local leisure facilities. The matter is that, unless local people stand up for areas they care about, some organisations cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Peter Weeks Stoke Bishop