Issue - meetings

Purpose

To provide an overview of the Reviving Victoria Park project including the purpose, project team recruitment, consultants engaged, progress to date and details of public consultation taken and planned.

(Councillor Morgan had to leave the meeting at this point for another appointment)

The report was introduced by Laura Young, Victoria Park Project Manager. She added that the online survey ended on 18 December and there had been a very good response to date.

In response to questions Laura clarified the following points:

·         As well as the online survey there were also some workshops running next week.  Next year there will be a number of consultations by the activity team including workshops, telephone interviews and focus groups.  The consultation will make some changes which will be taken back to the community to see if they meet the needs.  That will culminate in the spring next year when it is hoped that an open day can take place to present some options to the public.

·         Toilets will be included in the design as this has been raised a number of times in the consultation.  This will enable young families to stay in the park for a meaningful amount of time.

·         Officers want the park to be a community hub space so it is feasible that Wi-Fi could be provided as part of the hub.

·         The intention is to get local families using the park but officers have had feedback that the provision for younger children is not very good, so officers will explore options for improving that.

·         There will be some test events later next year to understand if the activity programme would entice people into the space. If the council is successful with the second application for funding there should be a decision by early 2022.  It was anticipated to break ground in autumn 2022 to start undertaking the changes presented to the public. 

·         There had currently been nearly 1,400 responses to the consultation.

Members thanked Laura for the huge amount of work she had already done with the project.

The Cabinet Member noted the report.