A triumphant week of lockdown for Cotham School in which they have used this huge open space precisely twice, once for ⚽️ skills & once for a treasure hunt. Total <2hrs PE. The gates remain locked. Cotham leaders & govs have no respect for the council, the community or the law.

Promises of cooperation have been made before, we have great difficulty believing them now.

Fryer claiming that a fence at Stoke Lodge would be the same as if it had to meet planning standards. She also asked in 2018 that curtilage status be removed bc having to apply for permission would be “pivotal and devastating” - they’d never get it. It shouldn’t be there.

BCC Planning ‘Enforcement’: Cotham School’s CCTV compounds are unlawful. Remove them or make an application within 2 weeks! Cotham: — BCC: Oh sorry, if you’re thinking about maybe making an application this year next year sometime never we won’t do anything… #CarryOnSpying

139 daylight hours since the gates were locked on 15 January 2026 blocking all four Public Rights of Way. Cotham School have only used the field for 11 hours 10 min

How deep does this go? The reasons given for refusing the cctv poles were basically damage to a heritage setting both physically and visually as well as privacy concerns. Why are the camera arrays and compounds any better?

204 daylight hours since the gates were locked on 15 January 2026 blocking all four Public Rights of Way. Cotham School have used the field for less than 10% of that time.

Many people have gardens and studies that overlook Stoke Lodge. People take children and grandchildren to the play park and people walk to the shops and wait at bus stops. Over 90% of the time 20 acres of beautiful City land lies empty. What a waste.

Community action is again needed to stop developers steamrollering decisions through. If all it takes for a developer to get what they want (against the will of councillors) is the threat of legal action, then they need to be met in kind. gofund.me/b1ef85846

Has anyone seen Cotham School? Hey, Cotham School, r u ok hun? Because over here at Stoke Lodge we haven’t seen you AT ALL this week! What about the hundreds of thousands of pounds you spent fencing the public out of Stoke Lodge? Are you just landbanking now?

Emma Burgess Cotham School In a whole MONTH they’ve been to Stoke Lodge 3 times. Once for ⚽️ after school v RGS (even tho RGS fields = closer for both) & for 2 x 45 min lessons on a Friday. But by all means, tell us again how you need the WHOLE of a 23 acre field 100% of the time. 🙄 Bristol City Council

Cotham School’s use of Stoke Lodge for sport is now less than 5% of daylight hours (and <1/3 of field). They’ve been just 5 times in the last FOUR WEEKS & gates are locked 24/7. Our view: Cotham School is the most hostile & antagonistic school in Bristol. Prove us wrong.

Papers for Public Rights of Way & Greens Cttee show Bristol City Council Chief Exec wrote to Cotham School saying the reasonable thing to do wd be to open gates to Stoke Lodge in the 95% of time they are not using it. Cotham School leadership apparently don’t care about that.

This is not an April Fool but it deserves to be: in what we can only assume to be a misguided bid to support a narrative about dog mess at Stoke Lodge, certain individuals have been planting fake poo. Beyond stupid, and deserves the mocking it’s getting. youtu.be/_IewZRMVLOU?si…

Along with appearance of an investigative video on You tube (see earlier repost) this is on Insta. Hilarious! instagram.com/reel/DWlLFvOCs…

A bit of holiday fun from our supporters. Nothing like a sense of humour to offset silliness! youtu.be/_IewZRMVLOU?si…

The list of ways Cotham School gets things wrong at Stoke Lodge just continues to grow:

Quote from our FB page about this & Cotham School’s apply for 8 CCTV towers at Stoke Lodge: “At a time when parents everywhere are being told there is no money for things like proper SEND support, etc. I would be furious if my children’s school was squandering money like this.”

New update on issues relating to Stoke Lodge: