Parish Clerk

Stoke Gifford Parish Council

The Community Hall
Little Stoke Lane
Little Stoke
BS34 6HR
25 April 2016
By e mail and mail: stoke.gifford@btconnect.com

Dear Parish Councillors,

We are writing to express our disappointment that Stoke Gifford Parish
Council has voted to impose a charge on Little Stoke parkrun. Though we
fully appreciate the financial pressures the council is operating under, we
would like you to further consider this matter in light of the clear benefits
of having a vibrant and successful programme such as parkrun operating
in the local area, both to the individual participant and the local
community. Physical inactivity is one of the most significant challenges we
are facing as a nation with many consequences ranging from mental ill
health to obesity and isolation. The costs in both economic and social
terms of physical inactivity are enormous.
Regular exercise brings a variety of long term physical and mental health
benefits and parkrun has been particularly successful at encouraging a
broad range of people to come together for a short timed run or walk.
Being physically active can help you lead a healthier and even happier life
and community initiatives such as parkrun may even help to ease
pressures on local health services in the longer term. There is a
compelling evidence base for the wide ranging health benefits and cost
savings that accrue from a more active local population, with increased
levels of activity an effective means of preventing, delaying and managing
a wide range of mental and physical health conditions.
The current cross-government strategy for an active nation, Sporting
Future, praises parkrun as a new model for community sport
volunteering, and celebrates the fact that local events are volunteer-run
and free for all.[i] We support this vision for a more active, healthy and

engaged nation, and are concerned that charging for community sporting
initiatives in public parks seems contrary to this vision.
Through parkrun, runners often choose to volunteer to organise and run
the events, thereby experiencing the benefits of volunteering. The Little
Stoke parkrun is an example of how people who may not usually volunteer
or participate in sport can be inspired and supported to do so and thus
become more engaged in their community. We hope that the Parish
Council would value the creation of an active network of volunteers and
could see benefits to working in partnership with them.
Community events bring people together, helping to develop new
friendships and preventing isolation. As one parkrun volunteer writes, the
fact that these events are volunteer-led is part of its very appeal: you feel
part of a group, and the camaraderie is great: youre all there because you
want to be, not because you have paid to go.
We understand that the Parish Council will undoubtedly be under intense
financial pressure to maintain the local facilities and will have been
weighing up a range of competing factors when making this decision. The
wider social value of both participation and volunteering in sport and
recreation in local communities should be recognised and considered as
part of the decision making on this issue. We hope that Stoke Gifford
Parish Council will reconsider its decision and continue to support
volunteering and community-led initiatives for the public benefit in their
area.
Yours sincerely

Sir Stuart Etherington

Chief Executive
NCVO

Emma Boggis
Chief Executive
Sport and Recreation
Alliance

Rebecca Birckbeck
Chief Executive
Join In

i
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486622/Sporting
_Future_ACCESSIBLE.pdf