Play in Bradford on Avon - Bradford on Avon Town Council

BACKGROUND

In April 2022, we took on responsibility from Wiltshire Council for more of the play areas and play spaces in the town.

This means we look after the following play areas and play spaces now:

Barton Farm
Bearfield
Greenlands View
Kingston Wood
Poulton Park
Sladesbrook
Spencers Orchard
St Aldhelm
Victory Field.

Over time, these spaces have all seen lots of play – and this means some of them are showing their age now.

And because of this – in October 2022 – councillors agreed to spend over £370,000 to improve play in the town.

This will happen over a number of years, since we don’t have all of this money available immediately.

We’re also planning to do this work in 3 phases. This means we’ll be working with designers on more than 1 play area at a time.

The schedule for this investment is:

PHASE 1

Poulton Park and St Aldhelm’s in 2023 (and 2024)
Bearfield and Spencers Orchard in 2024
Sladesbrook in 2025.

PHASE 2

Barton Farm and Victory Field in 2029
Greenlands View in 2030.

PHASE 3

Kingston Wood in 2035 and 2036.

NEXT STEPS

PHASE 1

We’re working with Wicksteed on the first phase of our play project. The decision to work with Wicksteed was made at the Full Council meeting on 4 July 2023 – and followed interviews with 2 prospective play companies.

You can see the initial design for the play area in Poulton Park here: initial design for the play area in Poulton Park (jpg)

The design includes a new wheel-/push chair accessible roundabout; trampoline; basket swing, 2 standard swings, 1 cradle swing and one disabled swing; multi-play unit with slide, tube slide, fireman’s pole and play panels; ‘pick up sticks’ multi-play unit.

We’re also exploring other ways of enhancing the play space in addition to the more traditional play equipment.

Have your say on the design for Poulton Park by completing our online survey.

Your views will help us to refine this design and potentially make some changes.

Soon, we’ll be sharing the initial design for St Aldhelm’s too. And again, we’ll be asking for your comments on that design.

once we have final designs for Poulton Park and St Aldhelm’s, these designs will be taken to a council committee meeting for approval
hopefully, this will lead to work happening in these play areas over winter 2023 (and possibly into early 2024).

At the same time, we’re starting to plan for Bearfield and Spencers Orchard.

the first step for both of these spaces will be some community conversations to find out more about how people use these spaces now; to reflect what people value about these spaces; and to ask people for their early ideas.

AIMS

As part of our project brief, we’re looking at each play area or play space individually – but also considering the play opportunities across the town. By doing this, we can be more strategic about how the £370,000 is spent.

We also want to provide more inclusive and universal play in Bradford on Avon – including opportunities for creative and imaginative play.

There’s more detail on our project aims in this document, which was part of the project brief.

Improving play in Bradford on Avon – Project aims (pdf)