by Wickhambrook Parish Clerk
At the Community Engagement Day on 3rd July there were a number of requests for smaller football goals with nets, which could be achieved if the seating was taken out and new boundary fencing installed. Other requests included the provision of a 3G Astro turfed area and outdoor table tennis table(s). Outdoor Gym Equipment was also popular as part of further development of the Six Acres and Recreation Ground.
At its July meeting the parish council decided that all the boarding would need to be cleared and any holes arising from post removal made good. The preference was to do this by means of a working party, with the boarding removed off site and stored for possible future recycling (report WPC.21.07.08),.
The clerk was asked to look into quotes and report options to the Estates Committee on 5th August (report WPC.EC.21.08.05), for future consultation with the parish as part of preparing a grant funding bid, which could also cover new equipment at the skate park, and the outdoor gym equipment.
Subsequent to the meeting, the site was measured (11m x 13m). In view of the limited space available for the installation of a Multi-Use Games Area on that site, it has been suggested that the Estates Committee and Parish Council consider:
• Bounding the site with low level fencing
• Re-purposing the site for outdoor gym equipment, which could:
a. Meet an identified demand in the parish supported by evidence from the community engagement day, previous meetings and anecdotal request
b. Fit with a demand for and move to more outdoor fitness facilities generated by the recent pandemic,
c. Provide an opportunity to link into existing fitness classes based at the Memorial Social centre; and
d. Bring the space back into use in the short to medium term, with
- Development of new and larger grant funded MUGA, incorporating 5 aside football, hockey and basketball in a new position near the tennis courts, with possible shared use by the school
We would be interested to hear your views on this, and would particularly like to know what style of outdoor fitness stations you think would work best if we were to install on the site of the old MUGA. Some examples are shown below:
