Sunnydale Park

Sunnydale Park Management Plan 2015 – 2020 With 2017 Addendum and Updated Action Plan CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose of the Management Plan 1 1.1 Community Context 2 1.1.1 Sunnydale Park Catchment Area 2 1.1.2 Community Profile 2 1.2 Site Description 5 1.2.1 Location 5 1.2.2 Existing Site 6 1.2.3 Summary of Attractions 7 1.2.4 Use of Park 7 1.2.5 Ecology 8 1.3 Ownership 8 1.4 Organisational Context 9 1.4.1 Derby City Council Structure 9 1.4.2 Management and Maintenance of Sunnydale Park 10 1.4.3 Park Management 11 1.4.4 Grounds Maintenance 12 1.5 Policy Context 13 1.5.1 National 14 1.5.2 Local 15 2 Green Flag Management Plan 18 2.1 A Welcoming Place 19 2.1.1 Clear identity and sense of arrival 19 2.1.2 Appearance and upkeep 20 2.1.3 Accessibility 20 2.1.4 Good signage to and in the park 21 2.2 Healthy, Safe and Secure 22 2.2.1 Providing a park, facilities and activities that help deliver 22 outcomes that improve and promote health and wellbeing 2.2.2 Providing a safe and secure place for all members of the 23 community 2.2.3 Dog control 25 2.2.4 Ensure all facilities, equipment and other park features and 25 infrastructure are of good quality and are safe to use 2.2.5 Appropriate health and safety policies and practices are in 26 place 2.3 Clean and Well Maintained 27 2.3.1 Maintenance of grounds and horticulture features 27 2.3.2 Maintenance of park infrastructure and hard landscape 29 2.3.3 Site cleanliness, litter and waste management 30 2.4 Environmental Sustainability 31 2.4.1 Natural Resources 32 2.4.2 Transport 33 2.4.3 Pollution 34 2.4.4 Waste 34 2.4.5 Purchasing and Contracts 35 2.5 Conservation and Heritage 36 2.5.1 Conservation of heritage 36 2.5.2 Conservation of nature 37 2.5.3 Woodland and trees 40 2.5.4 Tree Management Policy 42 2.5.5 Tree Inspections and Arboricultural Maintenance 42 2.5.6 Grasslands 43 2.5.7 Hedgerows 46 2.5.8 Flora and Fauna 46 2.5.9 Education 47 2.5.10 Future Nature Conservation Potential 47 2.6 Community Involvement 49 2.6.1 Community engagement and participation 49 2.6.2 Events 51 2.6.3 Education 53 2.6.4 Fundraising 54 2.6.5 Volunteer Opportunities 54 2.7 Marketing 56 2.7.1 Marketing Team 56 2.7.2 Marketing Strategy for Community Leisure 57 2.7.3 Marketing material available for Sunnydale Park 58 2.7.4 Park Information, Signage and Interpretation 58 2.7.5 Marketing Plan 59 2.8 Management 60 2.8.1 Overview 60 2.8.2 Staff structure and management arrangements 61 2.8.3 Management improvement processes 61 2.8.4 Monitoring and Review 61 2.8.5 Existing Maintenance 63 2.8.6 Training 63 3 Action Plan 64 3.1 Recommendations Action Plan 64 3.1.1 Resources 64 3.1.2 Responsibility 64 APPENDICES Appendix A Sample inspection sheet – playgrounds 75 Appendix B Live Well 76 Appendix C Example Risk Assessment 78 FOREWORD Sunnydale Park is a green oasis in the heart of suburban Derby, part of a valuable network of open space which links the district of Littleover with the surrounding countryside. This provides a superb facility for local people to walk, cycle, and enjoy all the benefits of improved wellbeing that access to extensive open space brings. The park is rich with wildlife, which through the surrounding green ribbon of parks is able to flow in and out of the city. Originally allotments, many of which had fallen out of use in the post war years, the park was established as part of extensive local housing development, over thirty years ago, and is a popular and much loved facility. A highly successful Friends Group ensures that local people are instrumental in the running and development of the park. Many of the key members of the Friends of Littleover Parks Group live close by and are a daily presence on the park, getting local people involved with maintenance issues, raising funding for developing new features, engaging with local schools and resolving problems and issues that may arise by working in partnership with the City Council, Police and other agencies. A picturesque pond is a major focal point at the heart of the park and is fed by an attractive brook which adds a further dimension both for its aesthetic beauty and its value as a habitat for wildlife. The park includes attractive areas of meadow and extensive stretches of woodland and for many local people offers a peaceful sanctuary from the hectic pace of modern life. This Management Plan sets out the vision for the maintenance, management and further enhancement of the park and I wholeheartedly endorse this document which will ensure that Sunnydale Park will continue to be enhanced for both current and future generations to enjoy. Keith Nelson Chair Friends of Littleover Parks 1 Purpose of the Management Plan INTRODUCTION During recent years the Friends Group, working in partnership with Derby City Council, have made significant improvements to the park. This has included the dredging of the lake, which over a period of years had become silted up, and the provision of a new pond dipping platform. Some new seating has been added, a woodland glade has been cleared and improved as butterfly habitat, spring naturalised bulbs have been planted, notice boards have been installed and recently upgraded, and many of the main gravel paths through the park have been tarmaced to provide a more durable all weather surface. This management plan aims to ensure that this current commitment to the park is maintained so that Sunnydale Park continues to develop its significant role as a public attraction and community facility. The purpose of the Management Plan for Sunnydale Park is to: bring together all issues that affect management and maintenance in order to support a holistic approach to the park’s future management ensure community involvement by placing the needs of the community at the heart of future management and development of the park set out a policy and direction to benchmark the park and enable management and policies to be analysed against best practice provide a clear shared vision, ethos and objectives for the park encourage a growing sense of ownership by all involved work towards a sense of pride in the park act as a basis for identifying priorities for action In order to be a useful and user-friendly reference, this Management Plan will: include a workable action plan be practical in the short term and sustainable in the short to long term support flexibility of responses evolve with time include timescales to allow monitoring of progress be readable. Responsibility for Implementation of the Management Plan This Management Plan has been compiled by Derby City Council’s Community Leisure Service: working in partnership with Friends of Littleover Parks, stakeholders, partner organisations and the community. Implementation of this Management Plan will be led by the Parks Service and responsibility for specific objectives/targets is identified in the Action Plan. 1 Evaluation Mechanism and Review Process It is intended that this Management Plan will be reviewed on a regular basis so that it can develop over time. The Management Plan, as a whole, will be reviewed annually by the Community Leisure Management Team, in consultation with the appropriate officers from Derby City Council and other stakeholders. Any updates to the Management Plan will then be incorporated as appropriate. Minor adjustments to the Management Plan will be needed from time to time, such as changing the order of events or who is leading on an item within the Action Plan. These changes will be agreed by the Community Leisure Management Team and the Parks Development Manager. It is essential that, during the review process, the Management Plan remains in plain English, so that it continues to be easily read and used. The Action Plan identifies required actions, the resources needed in order to deliver these prioritised actions and how they are to be monitored. In this way, each of the actions contained within the Management Plan will be monitored against an anticipated output. 1.1 Community Context This section sets out what is known about the community that use the park, using information collected from the Local Plan and census and demographic information data. 1.1.1 Sunnydale Park Catchment Area Sunnydale Park is designated as a Neighbourhood Park (Parks hierarchy 2 - 20 hectares with 400m catchment area) located within the Blagreaves Ward, which covers approximately 337 hectares and is a relatively compact residential neighbourhood situated in the south west of the city. The area incorporates the southern part of the Littleover area and part of Sunnyhill. It is bounded by the wards of Littleover, Normanton and Sinfin and by the administrative area of South Derbyshire to the south. In considering the community context for the park it is necessary to look at the local area in which it is located and its wider catchment area from which it draws some of its visitors. 1.1.2 Community Profile Derby Derby is a fairly compact, free standing city with a population that has grown from nearly 234,000 people in 2001 to 248,700 in 2011.

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