Parent power wins at Calne (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Parent power wins at Calne

7:00am Friday 10th July 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

Parents who got together to create a new £27,000 play park for their children, opened it on Saturday with a barbecue and music.

The old park at the ex-military married quarters in Atcherley Road, was deemed unsafe, and so residents set up an association to raise funds to buy and put new facilities in the park.

Director of the association and mum-of-two Fran House said: “There was a play park there anyway, but it was not maintained.

“The old one had become so worn out that we even had to fence it off for a while.

“There are a lot of children here and the park is behind the majority of our houses so we overlook it. It is nice to have a park at the end of your garden – my daughter wants to be in there all the time.”

As it is ex MOD land, the park was not adopted by Wiltshire Council and so residents had themselves to find funding for new facilities.

Mrs House said: “We got a grant through landfill tax credits and one from the former North Wiltshire District Council, some money from Calne Without Parish Council, then we put some money in ourselves.

“We pay into a management fund monthly so we will maintain the park from that – there are only 62 houses who own a share in the park so we will also be fundraising to raise money from the entire Lower Compton community.”

The bulk of the funding for the park came from Viridor Waste Management, through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Gillian Barber, a spokesman for Community First which distributes the landfill fund, said: “We have been really impressed with the commitment shown by Fran House and her colleagues in raising the funds for the play park.

“This is a true community based project of which the residents association can be proud.”

Parents spent a year raising funds for the new facilities.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)