Marks & Spencer’s carrier bags fund Dame Emily Park makeover

A popular Bedminster park is set for a makeover, helping it to become more user friendly for all of the community.

Dame Emily Park, will benefit from a partnership between M&S, Groundwork and the City Council as part of a UK wide project Greener Living Spaces.

A community garden is planned for a large concrete area with trees, plants and seating replacing the current space.

Members of the community will be involved with the design, construction and maintaining the garden once finished.

M&S fund the projects with profits made by the sales of their 5p carrier bags in Marks & Spencer stores.

Director of Plan A at Marks & Spencer, Richard Gillies said: “We believe that we are doing the right thing by charging for food carrier bags, and the impact of the charge definitely supports this belief. Not only has the charge led to more than a 80 per cent reduction in bag usage, it has generated £3.6m for our Greener Living Spaces Programme, benefiting dozens of communities and thousands of people across the UK.

“We are excited to be supporting and getting involved in the Dame Emily Community Garden project and I know our local employees at our stores in Bristol are looking forward to getting involved with the project.”