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Uppleby Road, Upper Parkstone, Poole
Young people & neighbour's consultation, 2009
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15th June |
Branksome Heath Middle School Presentation at Assembly followed by lunchtime drop-in session to get initial ideas from those interested. Questionnaires left to be distributed to the whole school. |
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17th June |
Branksome Heath Middle School Council meeting to make contact with representatives |
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18th June |
Visit to the play area promoted in school assembly Very poorly attended [findings] |
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19th June |
Questionnaires collected - response analysis; second lunchtime drop-in session |
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1st July |
School Council meeting |
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27th July |
Informal site visit with Landscape Architect [findings] |
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10th August |
Comments/requests received from local residents since door-to-door leaflet distribution in July |
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Follow-up: |
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13th Aug |
Revisited play area to share information and progress |
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16th Oct |
Branksome Heath School Assembly with plans for improvements |
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Findings from the play area visit Monday 18th June 2009, 3:30pm – 5:30pm One 11-year old boy attended The lack of young people attending the consultation may be due to the fact that the play area had very recently been closed for repairs to damaged play surfacing. The young boy that did attend (he uses Haskells Rec play area and wouldn't normally visit Uppleby Road) suggested a bike track / cyclogym might be a good idea; separate from the young children's equipment which should be moved closer together. In conversation with two visiting mothers with toddlers, however (the only other users in the two hours we were on site), it seems that very few of the target age group are seen in the play area. Visitors tend to comprise parent & toddler groups, or older teens that can be rowdy and intimidating to others. Other suggestions made:
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Branksome Heath Middle School Questionnaire Responses asking questions about Alexandra Park, Haskells Recreation Ground & Uppleby Road play areas: By marking out a square mile distance from each of the 3 play areas it became clear that the majority of 8-13 year olds living close to these parks would attend Branksome Heath Middle School. Questionnaires were left for distribution and collected a week later; 192 had been completed. 56% of respondents are female and 44% male. Over 70% of respondents live in the BH12 postcode. The age range (8-12 yrs) breaks down as follows:
Findings: The top 3 parks visited most by pupils were:
Uppleby was named by just 4% of pupils as the park that they visited most. The top 3 favourite place to play were:
8% of pupils named Alexandra Park as their favourite park and only 2% named Uppleby. Question 6 asked the pupils to indicate which activity they prefer while playing:
The remainder of the questionnaire divided to ask pupils specifically about what they would change and/or keep in each park individually. 86 respondents made suggestions for Uppleby Road Play Area. The most frequently written phrase for this park was either “I don’t go there”, or “I don’t know where this park is”. This alongside the fact that only one young person was actually at the park during the visit on 18th June indicates that this park is underused and therefore in need of development and promotion. While 86 pupils responded, 22 of the comments simply said ‘change it all’ or ‘keep nothing’. Things that 8-12 yr olds would like to keep in the park: “We like this one. It is always very quiet here. It is suitable for running around, and has only one exit so secure” (M, aged 10) Unsurprisingly the swings were mentioned most as the piece of equipment that pupils wanted left in the park (about 25%). The following list indicates the other things that pupils expressed a desire to keep (numbers in brackets indicate the number of times it was mentioned):
Things that 8-12’s would like to change in the park: “Needs new stuff and there’s loads of vandalism and its horrible. Needs new stuff like swings, slides and a zip wire like at Moors Valley. It needs to be cleaner” (F, aged 11) “Less trees to have space to play. A football pitch and benches to sit on” (M, aged 11) “Because it is mainly for older users so it needs to be remodalised to make it worth a look” (M, aged 12) The roundabout was mentioned most as the thing that respondents would want to change – mainly as the one there already does not actually move very much. Other changes were:
Additions“There’s nothing really to do at this park. I think it needs more exciting things there” (F, aged 11) “More things for our age range” was the most common comment about possible additions. Ideas included:
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An hour in the play area with the Landscape Architect. Sunny Monday afternoon. The slide/shelter unit had been burned and badly damaged, it was fenced off and awaiting repair at the time of this visit. Three girls - 9yrs, 13yrs & 13yrs:
Boy aged 9 yrs:
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Comments/requests received from local residents since door-to-door leaflet distribution Parent of two pre-school children:
14 yr old local boy:
Local parent:
Close neighbour:
Mother of two, 5yrs & 10 yrs
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