Middlewich Parks News November 2012

The Residents Association for Middlewich Parks started in September 2012, and has grown from humble beginnings to a fully fledged independent campaigning group with a written constitution. 

Results of Audit (60% = acceptable condition)

In a sort period of time from the formation of the group, we have completed a set of audits on most of the Play Parks in the town. The puropse of these audits was to present a factual account of the standard of the playparks within the town and use the results to campaign for funding and resources to improve them to and acceptable standard.

These audits showed that most of the parks fell below what the residents of Middlewich would feel to be an acceptable standard. Graffiti, Fouling, Litter, Lack of Equipment and Lack Of Maintenance were all recurring features within the play parks. 

The results of the audits were passed onto Cheshire East Borough Council Parks by one of our Local Town Councillors to highlight the issues and campaign for action.

Moss Drive Park with Rt. Hon. Fiona Bruce MP
Image courtesy of The Middlewich Guardian

On the political side we have been successful in gaining all party support, including a significant statement of support from our Local MP the Rt. Hon Fiona Bruce

In the new year we will be working with Middlewich Vision, Cheshire East Borough Council Parks and Middlewich Town Council on a public consultation for the following Parks, Fountain Fields, Booth Lane & Moss Drive, ending in March 2013. 

As part of this we will also be looking at what additional funding we can raise from other sources alongside Middlewich Vision. We hope that by the end of 2013 these parks will be up to an acceptable standard and then we can move onto the other 9 parks and continuing the work on making sure that our Children’s needs are met by all the play parks in the town. This we feel is a positive step and a reward for the efforts put in by the people of Middlewich in highlighting the problems with our parks, and the efforts of both the Town Council & Middlewich Vision.

On top of that we are also planning a spring offensive on the park on Sycamore Drive involving as many members of the community as possible. This work will initially involve a good clean up as well as highlighting any issues to Cheshire East Council. We would like to extend this community action to the other parks in the town and would very much like to hear from any potential volunteers who would like to lead any activities surrounding the parks that service their areas.

Anyone wishing to be involved in any of these activities please feel free to email us for more details