HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE UPGRADE OF THE RECREATION GROUND

Woburn Sands Town Council now has available approximately £250,000 to develop our local recreation ground into an exciting ‘Play Park’. This money has come to us from Section 106 funds collected from a range of building developments in the town. We literally have money to play with!

The Recreation Ground - A Great Location

‘The Rec’ is the green open space near the Woburn Sands Railway Station. The Old Fire Station building is located at one end and the pelican crossing over Station Road is at the other end. It is the largest green play and social space in Woburn Sands. 

But…
The lovely established hedgerows currently border a large Rec that has no strong identity. The football pitch looks tired and the single ended basketball hoop and goal do not encourage games. The skate park area supports a limited range of users and abilities.

All this can change…
You can help us to decide on what is in the new Rec and Play Parks by sharing your views with us. It is not realistic to think that we will get everything that everyone wants but what we aim to achieve is a recreation area that has a better balance of activities and gives the best value to our community.

Getting some good ideas…
Our discussions so far have included input from Swallowfield pupils and, in partnership with Milton Keynes Council, we have developed a growing list of possibilities. Please complete the survey below to inform our decisions.

How to spend the money? The Possibilities are endless…
A small proportion of the money will be used to improve the existing play area and football pitch including new, more appropriately sized, goal posts.

The rest of the money will be used to provide new facilities for the Recreation Ground
Here are some examples of what we could aim for. Please remember that the pictures below are just illustrations to give you a better idea of what is available. Which of the following possible additions to the Recreation Ground would you like to see?

PLAY

A zip wire, which would give an exciting ride across the grass.

 

A multi-play climbing frame, which could be in the form of, for example, a Castle or Pirate Ship.

An accessible roundabout and/or basket swing to increase the play opportunities for all abilities, where you could take it slow or fast depending on who is pushing. 

SPORTS

A multi-use games area (MUGA). A small hard-standing area of 12m x 20m with football goals and basketball hoops at each end supporting actual game playing opportunities. This area could be provided with lighting which would enable usage during darker months.

A small wheeled sports area approximately 20m long and 18m wide for skateboarding, scooters, or BMX, where you can enjoy the bumpy ride

ADULT

A new adult fitness area with gym style machines and table tennis table as fitness and wellbeing doesn’t have an age limit.

 

WELLBEING & LIFESTYLE

A circular walk which could run around the perimeter and be used to walk/jog/run or to use a wheelchair or buggy (this would be approx. 400m / quarter of a mile long) - good for all ages and abilities.

An area set aside for meadow flowers, as part of recreation and wellbeing can be the simple enjoyment of nature and nurturing the next generation’s interest in taking care of the natural environment. We're also looking at adding more seating, trees and landscaping.

 We hope you will agree that the design of the new Recreation Ground should be suitable for all ages and abilities, whilst providing some progressive challenges.

In general, materials used across the site will be robust and blend the heritage aspect of black metal in the seating, bins and fencing with more naturalistic play areas and perhaps a meadow. Entrances could be made more welcoming through signage, clear sight lines and appropriate planting where required. The play areas will have surfaces extended to aid accessibility.

We plan to make final decisions on the development of the new Rec in December so please make your views known to us by the first week in November. This development probably represents a “once in a lifetime” chance to enhance the Recreation Ground so it is important that we hear from everyone interested in the future of our Rec.

We look forward to hearing from you. If you are completing this survey in print please post it into the Town Council mail box. If you are completing the survey online you will need press on the box with lines in to indicate the items you want and the arrows for preference, but each question will need a response so please complete all the preference boxes. At the end of the survey by pressing “DONE” the survey will be sent to us. If you have any additional comments please send them by email to l.stapleton@wstc.org.uk

We can also send you a hard copy of the survey by email at your request.

Now it’s over to you. Please remember that a small proportion of the money is already earmarked to improve the existing play area and football pitch and the general surroundings, including a new surface for the children’s play area.