Friends of Belle Vue Park

Friends of Belle Vue Park (FoBVP) were in the process of regenerating a tired but popular neighbourhood park. Their Play Area Sub-Committee consulted with local people, exploring design options and managing the refurbishment of the park’s play area. This project set a high standard for valuing the views of residents and end users.

Prior to the formation of FoBVP Association in June 2000 the park had suffered from years of neglect; grass and hedges were not regularly maintained, there were problems with litter and dog fouling and the play equipment was old and dilapidated.

The group formed initially partly in response to concerns about the consultation process for a lottery funded art project installed in the park. The group set about making the park a more attractive and safer place for the whole community. Social events were organised such as barbecues and carol singing. Members also volunteered to renovate park benches and to lock and unlock park gates at night and in the morning.

The Play Area Sub-Committee was formed to explore ways of improving play facilities. The first thing the group did was to ask the council to close the gate at the corner of the play area to make it safer for toddlers and instead create a new entrance with safety barriers where the lollipop lady could direct the children across the road.

The group then set themselves up as an environmental body so that they could apply for funding from the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. They obtained £5,500 from the scheme and used it to install dog-proof fencing around the play area. FoBVP put in a proposal to the Penarth Central Renewal Area and were promised £33,000 match funding towards installation of the new play area. The local Council then agreed to provide £9,000 capital spending on the project.

FoBVP continued with the long process of fundraising and finally in 2005, were awarded £26,500 from the Enfys Foundation, a local charity. Together with funds the group had raised locally, the whole play area was redeveloped into a unique playground, completed in the spring of 2006. The total cost of the project came to around £75,000.

The group approached The Glass-House for professional design advice for the play area. “After speaking to 5 or 6 play equipment firms, who were all trying to sell equipment rather than listen to us, we realised we had to have professional advice.”

The group applied to The Glass-House for Project Support. When The Glass-House became involved, the group already had fairly fixed ideas of what they wanted following extensive consultation, and they were really looking to The Glass-House for an actual design. With further assistance from The Glass-House, the group was able to engage a local play area designer. The designer worked with them from the initial proposals, introducing interesting play equipment and enabling a final design to be achieved which met all the requirements.

The group considered consultation with everyone in the local community to be a major issue right from the start. An extra emphasis of the consultation was to include the children’s ideas and views in the design, as they would eventually be the main users of the play area.

The group held three consultation events: The first was a consultation day with children from a local school. The group then organised a survey of the local community. The aim was to ask children and parents what they thought about the play area and what improvements they would like to see.  About 250 questionnaires were returned.

Finally the group held a sponsored event called the “obstacle challenge” in May 2004. This raised over £2,600 towards new play equipment. Plans, drawings and photographs of the proposed play area were presented. Then the 150 people who attended the event were given a choice of play equipment and asked to vote for their favorites.

The Belle Vue Park project has been named, for the fourth successive year, as a national award winner under the Green Flag Award scheme. (2010).

Spaces

Neighbourhood Park Regeneration
Community Park Management
Play equipment installation with children’s approval
Green Flag Awarded project

Various consultation events

National Award winners under the Green Flag Award Scheme (2010) for the fourth year running

Spaces by Design Training Course