by Cllr Michael Hudston
It’s a new year and having just returned from a holiday with a bit of winter warmth and sun (the first in four years), I am straight back into the thick of it with three Council meetings over the next two weeks.
Monday 23rd saw me at the Amenities and Facilities meeting, where we discussed amongst other things the improvements to the Recreation Ground.
I believe the Recreation Ground should be the heart of the town’s social and family activities and we should be improving it and promoting it more. To that end, I have been assisting the Director Of Council Services utilising my experience from my professional life, in the development of the requirements for some of the improvements to the recreation ground, particularly in relation to the splash pad.
It was a former councillor’s idea that we should be taking inspiration for the Recreation Ground improvements, from The Royal Victoria Park in Bath, so the improvements to the Recreation Ground we discussed and as a committee we resolved to approve and progress are;
Mini Boating Lake
Mini Crazy Golf Course
Mini Car race track
Bouncy Castle / Inflatable
Splash Pad
Rotating the rugby pitch and moving it slightly, but not moving it to Potters Field
Creation of “The King Charles III Grove” a mini orchard of cherry, other fruit trees and seating.
Some of these improvements will utilise the area currently occupied by the Tennis Courts, which means no more Tennis at the Recreation Ground. Whilst the courts see some limited use during Wimbledon, they are very underutilised and in desperate need of TLC. There are more modern Tennis Courts at our Beversbrook facility.
There were some concerns from a couple of the councillors in relation to the potential for children drowning and a bouncy castle being blown away, to the point that one councillor wanted to remove the mini boating lake and splash pad from the improvements altogether, which would make the whole idea of the improvements pointless.
I very strongly challenged this and stated that this is a professional council, which should have the ability to do proper risk assessments and these accidents only happen when activities are not planned, risk assessed and managed correctly!
So the proposal stood on its merits with the support of most of the councillors present with the proviso, that proper risk assessments are carried out.
The King Charles III Grove
This was a great idea by Councillor Tim Havenith, to utilise a much-underused part of the Recreation Ground, adjacent to the Dog Walking area, the Basket Ball Courts and the main area (see picture). This will include a Community Orchard some seating and a Memorial Oak Tree, in remembrance of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This would be a peaceful place of contemplation and reflection, where you could sit, relax and get lost in your own thoughts or even read a book. It gets my full support.
King Charles III Grove by Cllr Tim Havenith
All in all, these are great improvements for the Recreation Ground, which are long overdue. The majority of the funding for these will be from external grants, Community Infrastructure Levy money from developers, and a little from general reserves and savings elsewhere, so we are not spending from the Council Tax Precept.
These improvements will be covered by the extensive CCTV upgrades already planned.
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