The debate over the proposed Chorleywood Play Area continues. It’s still very much a case of swings and roundabouts but things are progressing.
- A report by the Play Area Advisory Committee (PAAC – set up in autumn 2014 with reps from Chorleywood Mums, Chorleywood Residents’ Association, Friends of Chorleywood Common, Friends of Chorleywood House Estate, Friends of Grove Wood, District Councillor and Parish Councillors) recently ranked the proposed play area sites for suitability based on factors like safety, access and impact on the environment. This boiled options down to three – Chorleywood House Estate and CW Common sites 13 and 15 (see map), with 15 deemed more suitable. Grove Wood is out of the running.
- A Chorleywood Residents’ Association survey concluded that the majority of potential users would prefer Site 13 because it is nearer the village centre, does not involve crossing a busy main road and is within walking distance for most users.
- The open meeting held at the Memorial Hall last month gave ample opportunity for local people to speak and there was a good balance of arguments for and against the two locations. “It was the best public forum so far with everybody being allowed to have their say.”
- Opinion is still divided on having a play area at all. Some residents question the justification of spending £100,000 of public money ‘to create something artificial out of something natural’, while others, including a health professional and a teacher, are adamant that a play area is essential on the grounds of providinga place for social interaction and that childhood obesity could be reduced and mobility and motor skills improved.
- As Chorleywood House Estate is feasible as a level site with some parking and easy disabled/pushchair access, it was scored down due to distance from the centre and main road proximity. Although the pedestrian crossing at the junction of Common Road and the A404 is going ahead (work scheduled 29 Feb – 25 March) it’s believed this will make little difference to familes’ decisions to use a CW House location. Objections to a Common site are mostly linked with conservation concerns.
WHAT NEXT?
Each of the sites has pros and cons, there has to be a compromise. Whatever conclusion the Parish Council reach should take into account powerful points made at the meeting. But both public opinion and the PAAC reports only act as recommendations which will go to full Parish Council in April for councillors to decide what site they want to go forward to Three Rivers District Council in order for 3RDC to make a final decision.
Main Pic: Infinite Playgrounds
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