Report re Burngreaves Parks and Open Spaces

IMPROVEMENTS FOR BURNGREAVE’S PARKS & OPEN SPACES; A PROGRESS REPORT

REPORT FOR BURNGREAVE AREA PANEL, MAY 2007

Burngreave Recreation Ground

The masterplan has been completed and endorsed by the community through extensive consultation. Breeze Landscape Architects have now been appointed to work on the next phase of works which will include developing the detailed designs for the park, further consultation and overseeing the development of the ‘Play Meadow’ on site. The Play Meadow will include naturalistic play features, a stone sitting/ climbing wall, basketball practice area and new planting. We hope the Play Meadow will be complete by October 2007.

We are working in partnership with Byron Wood School to make improvements to the area of green space within the school’s extended boundary. The intention is that this area of green space will be accessible by the wider community outside school hours.

We have secured funding for this next phase of work, but need to continue to look for additional funding to implement the rest of the masterplan which includes improving the football pitch, upgrading the footpaths and creating the terraces from Burngreave Street. We are proposing that we invest the capital receipt from Sutherland Road Playground in the Burngreave Rec improvements.

Abbeyfield Park

We have also recently received exciting news that Abbeyfield Park has been successful in being selected by the English Cricket Board to site a cricket specific Multi Use Games Area (this facility will have a cricket focus but other uses are permissible) on the site of the existing tennis courts. The English Cricket Board will provide £80,000 towards the capital costs of the cricket facility. Sheffield has been selected by the English Cricket Board as a result of the positive cricket development work carried out by staff from both Parks and Countryside and Activity Sheffield. Staff have developed good links with local clubs through working with local young people and gaining trust. In particular they have demonstrated excellent practice in cricket development work at Mount Pleasant Park. Abbeyfield Park was selected as Sheffield’s site due to the high level of cricket use that the site currently receives, the excellent impression that Abbeyfield cricketers made on the Regional Cricket Development Officer at a meeting he attended at Abbeyfield Park last year, and the fact that Activity Sheffield have resources in Burngreave to deliver a programme of cricket related training and activity once the cricket facility has been built. This project is a tremendous boost not only for Abbeyfield Park, but also for Burngreave and Sheffield.

As this project will take a few months to get off the ground, Parks & Countryside have worked with the Friends of Abbeyfield Park and Abbeyfield Cricketers to secure funding to improve the tennis courts at Abbeyfield Park for cricket practice in the interim period. The funding from CHILYPEP will pay for an artificial Flicx Pitch and new stumps, topping up of the dri-pla surfacing, and new cricket equipment.

With support from the Area Panel and Premises & Assets (SCC) we have been able to make essential roof repairs to the House (a relief for the tenants), make the outbuildings water-tight to prevent further deterioration to a valuable heritage site and replace the defunct electricity supply to the bowling pavilion and stables.

We are currently aiming to secure Lottery funding from the ‘Parks for People’ fund which will contribute towards the complete regeneration of the House and Park and by doing so, create a financially self sustaining community facility based on the use of the House. Unfortunately, major national projects have depleted the overall ‘Parks for People’ fund, which effectively means that competition for a smaller pot of money is fierce. We are also trying to overcome match funding shortfalls. We are still very committed to this project and are endeavoring to respond to changing circumstance as best we can.

Osgathorpe Park

There have been a number of recent improvements in the park; the new footpath lighting, mosaics in the playground and tree planting to name but a few. We are also planning the sowing of wildflower seeds in areas of the park over the summer.

We are now starting to work on developing improved youth facilities for older children in the area adjacent to the Pavilion, in partnership with the Friends of Osgathorpe Park and our Environmental Planning Team. Extensive community consultation has informed the design options which include a multi use games area, climbing boulder and terraced seating. Further consultation will determine the preferred design. Funding from the Earl Marshall Trust Fund and Section 106 will be used to secure the additional match funding required for the project.

Devon Gardens

We have submitted a funding application to Burngreave New Deal for Communities which we hope will secure money to improve the footpaths, repair and refurbish the railings, install new seating and an interpretation board, and carry out additional shrub planting. We are in contact with a number of interested local residents, who have helped our Rangers out with practical work tasks in the Gardens, whom we hope in the long term would like to form a ‘Friends of Devon Gardens’ group. We hope to start this project shortly.

Parkwood Springs

Funding has been secured from Evolve EB and Creating A Setting For Investment, to implement a range of practical improvements (e.g. vehicle access restrictions, heathland enhancement, entrance improvements) and run a range of activities that will encourage local people to use the site more.

In parallel with this work, we are also seeking to secure the funding to develop a masterplan for the whole of Parkwood Springs. This site, with its close location to the city centre, sheer size and topography is recognised as having the potential to be of tremendous value to residents of Sheffield. A masterplan is essential, not only to guide future regeneration priorities, but also as a tool to secure the vast investment required to create a new city park. A masterplanning group has been established to promote and oversee the development of a masterplan for the site which involves representation from different council services and stakeholders. This has led to a report being presented to Parks & Countryside senior management team on the 22nd March to both report progress and to seek support for a cross service approach to masterplan development. A report produced by colleagues from Trees and Woodlands on the idea of creating a Country Park will also be tabled at the meeting

A meeting has been organised to discuss potential partnership working between Viridor Waste Management, the operator of the Parkwood Springs Landfill site, and SCC officers on the development of a masterplan for the whole of the Parkwood Springs site. Currently Viridor have undertaken to produce a restoration plan for the landfill site - in isolation of the broader context of the Parkwood Springs open space. Viridor are maybe willing to support partnership working to produce a masterplan and restoration proposals which considers the area as a whole, thereby hopefully achieving more holistic and successful proposals for the area in terms of landscape management and aesthetic, ecological development, access and recreation opportunities and commercial development.

Nottingham Street Recreation Ground

The playground fencing has now been replaced, and the fixings for the springy have been ordered. The playground provides a range of equipment for children of all ages. If local residents would like to get involved with another Clean Up day, Parks & Countryside would be able to provide tools and pick up rubbish (as carried out last year).

Burngreave Heritage Project

Joan Sewell, a historian, has produced three heritage analyses of Devon Gardens, Bunrgreave Cemetery & Chapels and Abbeyfield Park. These are available in Burngreave Library. We recognise that Burngreave is rich in social, cultural and physical heritage. As a result of this we would like to develop a ‘heritage trail’ around the area, with way marking signs and interpretation boards.

Recommendations

That this Area Panel meeting,

a. Note this report

b. Recognise in particular the improvements to Burngreave Recreation Ground; the tennis courts in Abbeyfield Park; the youth provision in Osgathorpe Park; and the plans for Parkwood Springs

Amie Rowland,

Regeneration Officer,

Parks & Countryside

0114 2736952

How useful is this page?

[ Comment On This Page? ]

Browsealoud |