Lightwoods Park and House Consultation Report
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PP-10-07371 CONSULTATION REPORT Compiled by Community First Partnership for: Landscape Architects, Urban Design & Building Services PL-06 Lightwoods Park and House Restoration Project Lightwoods Park and House Consultation Report Contents 1.0 Summary ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Public Consultation Events ........................................................................... 1 1.2 Community Workshop .................................................................................... 2 1.3 Visitor Survey ................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Volunteers Survey .......................................................................................... 3 1.5 Schools Survey .............................................................................................. 3 1.6 Third Sector, Council and Local Organisation Consultation ........................... 4 1.7 Memories of Lightwoods Park and House Exercise ....................................... 5 1.8 Consultation Roadshow ................................................................................. 5 Appendix A – Lightwoods Park Public Consultation Report Appendix B – Lightwoods Park and House Community Workshop Report Appendix C – Lightwoods Park 2012 Visitor Survey Report Appendix D – Lightwoods Park 2012 Volunteer Survey Report Appendix E – Lightwoods Park Schools Survey Report Appendix F – Collated Summaries of Meetings Appendix G – Memories of Lightwoods Park and House Exercise Comments Appendix H – Lightwoods Park and House Consultation Roadshow Report PP-10-07371: Consultation Report, Sandwell MBC Lightwoods Park and House Restoration Project 1.0 SUMMARY Sandwell Council have been engaging with local residents for the past 2 years. The first consultation event was undertaken by Sandwell Council in November 2010 and before this consultation was also carried out by Birmingham City Council prior to the transfer of the park. Sandwell Council’s Parks and Countryside Section have supported local residents in a journey of changing the management of Lightwoods Park, submitting a Round 1 bid to HLF’s Parks for People Funding Programme, seeing a successful Round 1 pass and working through the development phase through to submitting a Round 2 application. We have reached a wide range of audiences and the level of interest in Lightwoods Park and House has grown way beyond our expectations. This project demonstrates the community’s proposals which have been fine tuned during the development phase following the advice from the appointed consultant team and further developed following the undertaking of specialist surveys and investigations. The outcomes of this is that we now have a well informed, comprehensive, cohesive and collaborative set of proposals of which many people such as the Friends of Lightwoods Park and House, community representatives and other groups, the wider community, our partners, local businesses, politicians and many different services within the Council have had an input in. This document collates the previous reports that have been produced during the development phase of the Lightwoods Park and House Restoration Project. The scope and focus of consultation during the development phase has been on the proposals contained within the Masterplan (Final Design Report and Masterplan, PL- 01). The consultation has informed and influenced the detailed design work as well as the development of a programme of revenue activities to be delivered during the capital delivery phase and post restoration. 900 people have engaged in a range of different consultation exercises with the results of these summarised below. 1.1 Public Consultation Events On 9th May at Thimblemill Library and 10th June 2012 at the Lightwoods Festival, 2 public consultation events were held as part of the early works of the development phase. 155 consultees participated in a series of exercises to check and reassess priorities for the restoration project. Those in attendance were predominately from the Abbey Ward of Bearwood and felt that restoring the Shakespeare Garden and providing a café/tea room or restaurant were the top priorities for both the Park and House respectively. Page 1 of 5 PP-10-07371: Consultation Report, Sandwell MBC Lightwoods Park and House Restoration Project 1.2 Community Workshop To further inform the development of the proposals for Lightwoods Park and House, an interactive community workshop was held at Warley Woods Pavilion on 12th June 2012. The event was run by members of the consultant team and was attended by 11 people. Those in attendance were split into 2 groups and completed 3 exercises which considered boundaries, entrances and access, play spaces, and events. Proposals for Lightwoods House were well received and met with enthusiasm particularly the community use of the ground floor rooms and the café. The importance of the links the park shares with its surroundings were stressed with a clear message that the open vistas of the park should be maintained. There was also detailed discussion around the potential for relocating the children's play area. 1.3 Visitor Survey Between May and July 2012, a visitor survey was completed by 160 people. The survey was carried out face-to-face by Sandwell MBC and the Friends of Lightwoods Park and House and was also hosted online. It emerged that half of all respondents visited the park regularly with the most popular reasons to use Lightwoods Park being for walking. Almost all respondents indicated that they combine their visit to the Park with a visit to the local shops, with the majority remaining in the Park for between 30 minutes and 1 hour. The mean average overall satisfaction with the Park was rated as 7.42 out of 10 (where 10 is exceptional) and the House was regarded as the most important heritage feature. There was also a high level of appreciation of other heritage features including the Shakespeare Garden, the bandstand, drinking fountains and the parkland trees and landscape. Respondents showed an overwhelming interest in a café/tea room within the House as well as a demand for more activities and events related to music. Nearly all of those completing the survey reported that they did not experience any barriers to using Lightwoods Park or House and there was a high level of awareness of the proposed restoration project. Page 2 of 5 PP-10-07371: Consultation Report, Sandwell MBC Lightwoods Park and House Restoration Project 1.4 Volunteers Survey A survey for volunteers at Lightwoods Park was hosted online between 22nd May and 30th July 2012 and was completed by 40 people. Of those that responded, nearly 2 in 3 were female, almost all were White British and the majority were aged between 45 and 64. 1 in 5 stated that they regularly volunteer at Lightwoods Park and 33% indicated that they did not regularly volunteer as they were only involved in one off events. The greatest barrier to volunteering was reported as not having enough time and the most common reason for volunteering at the Park emerged as wanting to improve things and help people, with most reporting that they found it easy to get involved and find out about the opportunities on offer. Gardening was the most popular volunteer activity and the majority of respondents indicated that they spend between 1 and 5 hours a month in the Park, many of whom stated that they would like to spend more time volunteering. 1.5 Schools Survey 11 schools within a 1 kilometre catchment of Lightwoods Park were contacted by both phone and email in July 2012 to understand schools current use of the Park. Responses were received from 6 schools and only 2 schools stated they used Lightwoods Park for educational visits, sports or other activities, however use of the Park was infrequent (around once or twice a year) and this was mainly during recent events in which they were active participants. The most frequently cited barrier to use was a lack of information about the available opportunities for educational visits for local schools, with many indicating an improvement in this would encourage their school to visit. Members of the Friends of Lightwoods Park and House are currently developing schools activities around history and local heritage and the restoration project will seek to develop this further. There was also strong demand from a number of schools for supervised ranger led visits and to become involved in the restoration project as it progressed, thus the proposal of the employment of a Lightwoods Park and House Community Development Officer within the project costs. Page 3 of 5 PP-10-07371: Consultation Report, Sandwell MBC Lightwoods Park and House Restoration Project 1.6 Third Sector, Council and Local Organisation Consultation A number of semi-structured meetings or telephone conversations have taken place throughout the development phase with Council staff local and third sector organisations. A short third sector survey was hosted online and a total of 10 surveys were completed; 12 one to one meetings or workshops took place and the consultant team engaged with 38 different organisations. Participants include: • Bearwood Community Champion • Bearwood Surestart Children's Centre • Birmingham City Council Sports Development • Birmingham City Council Youth Services • Sandwell Council Youth Services • Community Action Project • Dizzy Youth Group • Friends of Lightwoods Park and House • The Bearwood Traders