Your Thoughts: The Queen’s Park Consultation
Last summer, you had your say on the future of Queen’s Park as part of the Public Consultation process. The consultation received 368 responses (73% online), with women responders outnumbering men by almost two to one.
The typical responder visits Queen’s Park 2-4 times a week and stays for one or two hours. The reasons for visiting the park vary from sports activities, walking, dog walking and visiting the cafe, with the biggest group being ‘just passing through’ (24%).
Various propositions for the redesign and alteration of the park were put forward, and you can see the full results in the Queens Park Master Plan Draft Report. Here is a brief summary of your responses:
The Old Bowling Green: ‘Keep and enhance’
On the issue of the old bowling green, most of you want to keep it, with 35.7% voting to ‘Remove – Return it to the original sloping lawn’, and 64.3% preferring the option ‘Keep and enhance’. Of those wishing to keep it, 92% wanted it revamped and to make it more functional.
Regarding the tennis club pavilion, there was overwhelming support (96.4%) for ‘restoration of the pavilion providing increased facilities and greater scope for community use’. A small but significant minority of respondents ‘admitted they knew little about the Pavilion’.
There was a resounding ‘yes’ (94%) to the option of redesigning the Scented Garden, including an exit point at the Clock Tower. There were 27 respondents who wished the area to remain ‘secluded’.
Just 25.7% said they wanted the pond to ‘remain as it is’. The report states that 74 respondents highlighted the desire for the ‘removal of the algae/weeds/duckweed and that more water circulation was needed’. A total of 97% supported the restoration of the cascade.
The Pond: Just 25.7% said they wanted it to ‘remain as it is’
The cafe area provided the highest volume of additional comments and suggestions. Of those, 69% supported the construction of a new cafe in a new location, with opinion divided on the rearrangement of the play area boundary, with 46.8% in favour and 53.2% against. Only 28.5% thought the cafe was fine as it is. The report states: ‘By far the most popular theme was the desire to maintain the separate areas for children and for dogs and in particular strong opposition to allowing dogs anywhere near the children’s play area.’
Regarding the West Drive Boundary, 98.8% supported a ‘long term management plan to protect the health of the important trees, stabilise the soil and increase the wildlife habitat”. A further 74.4% supported the addition/restoration of railings on West and North Drives.
On park furniture, 84.4% prefer traditional rather than modern designs. There was strong support (89.1%) for additional lighting along key paths.
Under ‘Further Comments’ from respondents the most common issues raised were keeping dogs away from the children’s playground (31 respondents), modernising/improving the play ground (29) and the wish to focus on ‘minor improvements and park maintenance, not losing its natural feel’ (26).
