Parminster contains over 60 parks, commons and green spaces, all of which are covered and protected by the Parminster Parks and Open Spaces Bylaws.
These Bylaws came into force on 6 April 2005 and replaced an older set of bylaws which date back to 1932.
About bylaws
We put bylaws in place to help improve your and other people's enjoyment of Parminster's parks and green spaces. Bylaws are local laws designed to complement rather than replace existing laws.
Our parks and green spaces are places for all sorts of activities, like walking, sports, play, picnics and of course just relaxing. These are all positive uses of open spaces, but we need to manage and control all activities, in case they cause upset or damage to others, or the site itself. Sometimes parks and green spaces are used for activities that are unacceptable. For example, an activity might cause distress or even injury to other users, or damage council or personal property.
The bylaws allow us to monitor such activity and if necessary prevent it altogether.
We want to help make your visit an enjoyable one for you, your family and friends.
Report someone breaking a bylaw
Please don't attempt to take the law into your own hands - you must always let Parminster Council and the police deal with any offences or breach of the bylaws.
You can help us by noting carefully what you have seen, and where and when it happened.
If you feel the incident is serious enough to require the police to intervene, please phone 999 as soon as you can without your safety being compromised. You can then let us know or the police will inform us once they have responded.
If you think the incident is something the council should be dealing with please let us know.
You can call us on 02038138430 or email us via the Contact Us page.
Enforcing bylaws
Any officer of the council can enforce the bylaws, as can a police officer either if they witness someone breaking a bylaw or are informed by the public or a council officer of an offence.
If someone breaks a bylaw, a council or police officer will approach the offender(s) and explain why that activity cannot be permitted or must be controlled. We aim to inform and raise awareness, so we can avoid further offences.
If somebody fails to take notice of our advice and continues to commit the offence, then a council or police officer will take down details for use as evidence. We may have to take further action, and the maximum fine, following court conviction, for a breach of any one of the bylaws is £500.