Agenda item

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

To consider the petition ‘Request for the installation of a Children’s Play Area in Moseley Avenue Park’ bearing 510 signatures, which is being supported by Councillor G Lloyd, a Sherbourne Ward Councillor, who has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item along with the petition organiser.

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services that responded to a petition bearing 510 signatures which was submitted to the Council in August 2021. The petition, sponsored by Councillor G Lloyd and the late Councillor S Walsh, Sherbourne Ward Councillors, requested the Council to create a new Children’s Play area in Moseley Avenue Park. The petition detail was outlined in the report.

Moseley Avenue Park is located in the northwest of the city and is approximately 13,800 square meters in size and contains a mixture of grassed areas, ornamental trees and an area of old tarmac which was once used for tennis. The site is a small park in a quiet residential area with houses bordering the park on all sides, separated by a narrow road.

According to the Fields in Trust (FIT) criteria in their “Guidance for Outdoor Sport and Play” children’s playgrounds are separated into three categories and each category has a accessibility standard for playgrounds in terms of their distance from dwellings as per the following:

·  Local Area for Play (LAP) or Local Area for Play – a playground aimed at very young children. Distance 100m (less than 5 minutes’ walk);

·  Locally Equipped Area for Play (LEAP) – a playground aimed at children who can go out and play independently. Distance 400m (5-10 minutes’ walk) and

·  Neighbourhood equipped Areas for Play (NEAP) – a playground aimed at older children. Distance 1000m (15-20 minutes’ walk)

The City Council have adopted the FIT accessibility standard for playgrounds in terms of their distance from dwellings. The relative distances were currently measured from the nearest boundary of the parks to the nearest dwellings rather than from the playgrounds or the park’s nearest entrances.

When the provision of LEAP and NEAP playgrounds within Coventry were mapped, it showed that Moseley Avenue Park falls outside the catchment areas of the nearest playgrounds with a particular lack of any NEAP provision.

The cost of creating a new playground had been estimated to be approximately £91,915 for a LEAP and £219,662 for a NEAP. The Council’s Park Service were currently unable to commit to creating a new park due to budget pressures. Funding may occasionally be available for the creation of new playgrounds from sources such as Section 106 agreements or through external grants such as those available from the Landfill Communities Fund or WMCA Community Grant scheme, which relevant residents’ groups could apply for.

If a new playground was to be proposed for Moseley Avenue Park, any such proposal would need the full support of the residents living near to the park, especially those whose houses are on the other side of the road to the park.

The old tarmac tennis courts within the park were suspected of being built on a clinker sub-base. Clinker was a by-product of industrial processes and consequently, was often contaminated with hazardous chemicals. If the material beneath the tarmac is contaminated, its removal and disposal would be especially expensive.

Councillor G Lloyd attended the meeting and spoke in respect of the petition. He expressed disappointment that a park was supposed to have been built 3 years ago and yet nothing had materialised. He added that the residents’ group ‘Friends of Moseley Park’ had existed for over 3 years and together with the majority of residents surrounding the park, want this and were fully supported by all 3 Ward Councillors and the local MP.

Councillor P Male, Shadow Cabinet Member also expressed his support for the park and suggested that every funding opportunity be explored to enable this to happen and, as and when it does, it could be dedicated in memory of late Councillor S Walsh.

RESOLVED that, the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities:

1.  Having considered the content of the petition, notes the concerns of the petitioners.

2.  Notes that there is insufficient funding for a new playground from the existing Park Service budgets however, the Service will consider all available funding opportunities available from any resource which may be used to create a new Locally Equipped Areas for Play (LEAP) or Neighbourhood Equipped Areas for Play (NEAP) at the earliest opportunity.

3.  Agrees that when opportunity and resources allow, a LEAP and/or NEAP playground should be provided in Moseley Avenue Park which will provide for children resident in the general area concerned.

4.  Agrees that plans for an alternative play feature for Moseley Avenue Park should be considered in the interim, separate to providing a LEAP or NEAP playground in or near to the park. This will be subject to the necessary funding being identified.

5.  Instructs officers to undertake a relevant survey to determine what, if any, contaminants exist on site.

6.  Notes the existence of the residents’ group ‘Friends of Moseley Avenue Park’ and requests officers to work with them to identify potential funding opportunities to fund a LEAP for the park.