Consultation 1st February 2017 Forster Memorial Park Consultation 1st February 2017

Name: Paul Age: 33 Gender: Male Distance from park: 500m Occupation: Shift worker Park’s use: Paul uses the park to jog around every other day. Benefits of park: The park is a good open space close to home, and Paul is aware of the exact distance if he does laps of the park, it enables him to time these effectively. Desired improvements: Paul would like to see a better surface on the park. He is also unaware of the additional benefits/ areas of the park, and would like to see better signage. He thinks it would also be useful to display distance points, as he had to use his phone GPS to measure the distance of the laps, which took him some time.

Name: The Jackson family Age: 44, 40, 10 and 4 Gender: Male and female Distance from park: under a mile Occupation: Both parents work from home, children go to school. Park’s use: The Jackson’s like to go for walk as a family. They like the wooded area of the park. Their 4 year old doesn’t mind the playground area, whereas their 10 year old does not like the equipment, and prefers to take a ball to play with. Benefits of park: The park has a range of areas that the family use, it is close to home, and they like looking at the animals. The 4 year old likes to play on the motorbike, and small roundabout in the playground. Desired improvements: The Jackson’s would like to know more about the nature of the park, and would find signs/ information about this useful. They would like to have more equipment to occupy their 10 year old, and for this to be in closer proximity to the smaller children’s area, as they have to separate. They don’t like their son playing on the football pitch, because they are afraid of him getting dog muck on him. They worry about not being able to use a toilet, and would like to be able to buy a cup of tea.

  Name: Jake Gender: Male Age: 15 Distance from Park Park’s use: Jake walks through the park on his way home every day. He also plays football there once a week Benefits of park: Big play area for football, and the changing rooms (Mary Bennett pavilion) Desired improvements: Jake sometimes worries about walking through the park when it’s dark, as there are lots of wooded areas, and he’s heard that people can hide in them. Jake likes to kick around with his friends, but they always have to go to their friends house to use the toilet in the middle. He’d like to be able to buy a snack and drink after football training. He would also like a better basketball court surface, as he used to play on it with his friends, but the ball kept not bouncing properly, and he was scared he’d fall over.

Name: Edith Gender: Female Age: 78 Distance from Park: 200m Occupation: Retired Park’s use: Edith has lived in the area for years and has walked around the park most days. She has a friend who lives the other side of the park, and they like to walk around it together Benefits of park: Lots of people to talk to Desired improvements: Edith worries she’ll trip on the uneven ground. She would like more places to sit, and would love to have somewhere she can have a cup of tea. Edith does worry about needing the toilet whilst out, so times her walk accordingly. She would like better lighting too, as she sometimes worries as it starts to get dark.

Paul, Nature Lover Name: Paul Age: 43 Distance from park: 1.5km Parks use: Paul likes to visit the park’s woodland area, and takes part in bird watching. He visits the park at the weekend. Benefits of park: Paul likes the park’s open ancient woodland, and the history that goes along side this. He is interested in how the Forster family first used the park, and it’s history as farmland. He enjoys listening, and spotting the birds including the woodpecker and parequeets. He is keen to learn more about the other wildlife in the park, and more about the park’s history. Desired improvements: Paul would like to know more about the history of the park. He does some research on line, but would prefer to engage with it whilst in the park, and understand what used to be where, so he can better understand the nature.

Chanice, College Student   Name: Chanice Age: 14 Distance from the park: 1km Parks use: Chanice walks through the park twice a day on the way to and from school. She doesn’t really use the park except to walk through, as she thinks it’s quite boring, and there is always a small gang that meet there after school that she doesn’t want to be involved with. Benefits of park: Chanice likes the fact she gets to walk through the park instead of walking on a road home. She thinks the trees are nice, and likes the big open space. Desired improvements: Chanice is keen for the paths to be improved. She keeps standing in puddles in the pot holes after it’s been raining. Chanice thinks having an outdoor gym would make her use the park more, as she likes to keep fit. She knows her friends would be keen to do this too.

Wendy Dog walker Name: Wendy Age: 35 Distance from the park: 1km   Parks use: Wendy walks her Labrador round the park every evening, her teenage son walks her in the morning before college Benefits of park: The park has lots of open space and woodland tracks for walking witrh the dog, and lots of shelter under the trees in wet weather. It is close to home and Wendy often stops to chat to other dog walkers she knows around the park. Desired improvements: Wendy would like the pathways to be in better condition. She sometimes gets a bit lost in the park too, and is unsure where to let he r dog off the lead, if at all, so thinks some signage would be beneficial too. Wendy would also love to be able to use a toilet in the park.

The surrounding woodland areas area really lovely and the grass is very well maintained for the children's games' times. I like the natural areas & wood chip section too. It is a popular park and well loved  

 Run nature/bush craft or birds and wild life courses or events to get the park on the map and encourage visitors   

It would be good if there was more design to encourage urban wildlife that could be used for education purposes as well. A wildlife garden or more diverse planting of native wildflower species and variety of tree species would encourage wildlife. Bird and bat boxes and bug hotels would be good and management of these areas directed towards increasing biodiversity not making it look tidy

It's not too big, well used, love the forest walks, we call it the square park as great for exercise, bikes, scooters. It's exactly 1km round so perfect for jogging  

There is a broken fence which runs quite a way down the right hand side of the park as you enter from whitefoot lane, which most of it is lying on the floor and is a danger to dogs and other animals and also children

Signage. Visibility. Events (i. e. similar to Phoenix Community Day) Signage. Visibility. Events (i.e. similar to Phoenix Community Day). Garden / allotment area (involvement of local school?)