Manydown country park engagement: young opinions

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CONTENTS

1 Executive summary 4

2 Background to Manydown 5

2 Brief and participants 5

2 Overview of this report 5

3 Previous youth engagement sessions 6

3 Country park engagement going forward 7

4 Buckskin youth drop-in session 8

5 Bishops Green youth drop-in session 9

6 Youth opinions and overall views 10

7 Next steps 11

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe following report summarises youth engagement sessions that took place in the last two weeks of August 2019 as part of a wider programme of consultation on the proposed country park at Manydown.

The sessions, which were held by the Manydown project team and facilitated by the youth development team at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, took place during pre-existing youth drop-in sessions at community centres in Buckskin and Bishops Green.

Young people attending the drop-in sessions learned about the features that make a country park and found out more about the proposed country park at Manydown including existing landscape features, and early proposals for different features such as the country park hub.

The seven to 18 year-olds also had the opportunity to come up with design proposals for a feature within the country park hub while thinking about topics such as ecology and landscape, health and wellbeing, sustainability and connectivity.

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BACKGROUND TO MANYDOWNBackground to ManydownManydown is a large area of land to the west of Basingstoke. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council own a 999-year lease on 2,024 acres of the land at Manydown.

The two councils are currently working towards obtaining outline planning permission for the northern part of Manydown, on which they propose to deliver up to 3,520 homes and the 250-acre country park plus amenities and infrastructure.

Background to the country park

The proposed 250-acre country park is a key feature for the garden communities at Manydown, with land available within the visitor hub for features and activities that promote the health and wellbeing of residents of the borough.

The land at the country park also has ecological and environmental value, with plants and natural green corridors that must be protected where possible and redeveloped in key areas to create new habitats for wildlife.

The councils are therefore committed to shaping the proposed country park in line with residents’ views and obligations to their wellbeing while also responding to climate change and protecting existing and creating new wildlife habitats.

Overview of this report

This report records the activities that took place during the youth engagement sessions in Buckskin and Bishops Green, as well as the views and opinions of the young people that attended the sessions.

Young people were encouraged to think about features they like and do not like for the proposed country park at Manydown while considering the themes of wildlife and landscape, sustainability and connected and healthy communities. The facilitators helped the participants to record their thoughts without leading or influencing their responses.

This report separately describes the two youth engagement sessions at Buckskin and Bishops Green and then collates the ideas from those who attended into a summary on initial opinions from young people around the proposed country park at Manydown.

Brief and participants

Two engagement sessions took place during pre-existing youth group drop-in sessions at community spaces in Buckskin and Bishops Green in August 2019. The engagement sessions were publicised by the leaders of those youth groups, who were given information about the Manydown project team’s proposals for the event, supported by the borough council’s youth development team. As these were drop-in sessions, there was no confirmed attendance list or definitive structure for either session prior to them taking place.

Attendees were aged between seven and 18 and lived in the areas surrounding the two community spaces in Buckskin and Bishops Green. Most had not heard much, if anything, about Manydown prior to the sessions.

The outline planning application is currently in progress for north Manydown and the project has not yet moved onto the detailed planning application stage in which proposals for the country park will be fully developed. This programme of youth engagement was therefore an opportunity for young people to give their initial thoughts on high-level proposals for the proposed country park at Manydown.

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PREVIOUS YOUTH ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS

The drop-in sessions held at Buckskin and Bishops Green form part of a wider, ongoing programme of youth engagement on the proposals for Manydown, following on from previous workshops held in January 2016 and August 2018.

The workshops held in January 2016 engaged with pupils in primary and secondary schools around the borough, supported by teaching staff. The workshops focused on engaging with young people to understand their views on ‘what makes a great place’ and the feedback from the sessions made it clear that young people wanted a safe, diverse and friendly community at Manydown.

The second set of youth engagement sessions workshops held in August 2018 involved young people from Basingstoke between the ages of 11 and 18, who spent the week working at local architecture practice Ayre Chamberlain Gaunt (ACG), based in Basing View. After being introduced to the project and completing activities to engage them with urban design and masterplanning, the young people developed their own ideas and designs for the layouts of various areas of Manydown, including the country park.

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COUNTRY PARK ENGAGEMENT GOING FORWARD

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council are passionate about delivering Manydown for the borough, and involving and engaging with residents to ensure their ideas continue to shape the development.

The proposed 250-acre country park at Manydown is a key feature of the development that will benefit the wider area. As such, the councils working with their private sector partner, will develop a strategy to engage with residents of all ages and a range of community organisations to gather and consider their views to help shape the country park. The youth drop-in sessions held at Buckskin and Bishops Green form part of the first step in this wider programme of engagement.

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BUCKSKIN YOUTH DROP-IN SESSION

At the beginning of the session at the Ridgeway Centre in Buckskin, 15 young people attending were given a brief overview of the Manydown development which emphasised the proposed 250-acre country park at Manydown as a benefit for residents of the borough.

As a starting point, those in attendance were encouraged to look at information boards placed around the room to educate them about the features of the country park, including ancient woodland, and other features that can be shaped by the views of residents such as the proposed country park hub. Having read the information, they stickered the boards to indicate how they felt about the necessary and desirable features of country parks.

The following comments were received.

Positively about:Neither positively or

negatively about:Negatively about:

• free entry• having a country park that is

accessible for all residents

• paths for biking, walking and horse riding

• green transport options across the country park

• having a calendar of events and guided walks promoting health and awareness of the environment

• having staff at the country park every day.

• having houses too close by as the young people felt that homes shouldn’t border the country park.

• not having staff on-site as they felt this would be an issue if there was an emergency.

The attendees were then encouraged to write down their thoughts on other features they’d like to see at the proposed country park at Manydown and to come up with design proposals for the country park hub while thinking about the themes of wildlife and landscape, healthy and connected communities and sustainability.

This resulted in young people largely suggesting and designing features to enable a number of physical activities to take place in the park, including dirt biking, skateboarding, zip wiring, horse riding and walking. The young people at Buckskin were also particularly interested in outdoor spaces for activities and events and a community building with space for a reception, groups and clubs and a garden.

Interestingly, the young people did not suggest any features related to the internet or technology and, when asked about having Wi-Fi throughout the country park, suggested that it should only be present in certain areas instead to allow visitors to fully appreciate the park and its wildlife.

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5BISHOPS GREEN YOUTH DROP-IN SESSION

The youth engagement session held at Bishops Green Village Hall was a more casual drop-in session compared with the previous event at Buckskin. Young people came and left at various times which provided an opportunity to engage with them individually or in small groups.

As young people entered the drop-in session, they were greeted by a member of the project team and given a brief overview of the Manydown development with a particular focus on the proposed 250-acre country park.

Those in attendance were encouraged to focus on the proposed country park, with officers using information boards to highlight aspects that could be shaped by residents’ views, such as the visitor hub, and those that need to be protected, such as the ancient woodland. At the same time, young people learned about the necessary and desirable features of country parks and used stickers to indicate how they felt about these.

The following comments were received.

Positively about:Neither positively or

negatively about:Negatively about:

• encouraging health and wellbeing

• having places to eat and drink• play facilities, skate parks and

art• green transport options

across the country park• opportunities to be involved

and volunteer at the country park

• free entry• having a country park that is

accessible for all residents

• having a calendar of events and guided walks to promote health and awareness of the environment.

• requirement for the country park to be less than 10 miles from houses, as the young people felt that it should be located further away from homes.

Having indicated their thoughts towards the necessary and desirable features of country parks, the young people were asked to consider the things they would like to see in the proposed country park and to write down and design their ideas. Print outs were provided to introduce themes they could consider when giving their answers, such as wildlife and landscape, sustainability and healthy and connected communities.

This resulted in the attendees suggesting and coming up with design proposals for features in the country park, including a spa, a skate park, a hotel and a football pitch. Suggestions made by the 11 to 18-year-olds at Bishops Green were largely made for facilities at the country park that would permit more indoor activities.

Young people at the Bishops Green event did not bring up

Wi-Fi as an idea for something they would like to have at the country park. Although they actively wanted Wi-Fi to be available at the country park once this was suggested by officers, they were keen that it should be restricted to the area around the visitor hub to allow visitors to properly appreciate the wildlife and plants within the park.

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YOUTH OPINIONS AND OVERALL VIEWS

The two drop-in sessions held in August 2019 resulted in a range of opinions on the proposed 250-acre country park at Manydown.

The views of young people aligned to an extent, with young people across both wards sharing certain views towards necessary and desirable features of country parks:

• Young people across both drop-in sessions felt strongly that the country park should be easily accessible for residents of the borough, free to enter and include paths for biking, walking and horse riding. Young people also responded positively to proposals for on-site staff at all times and play facilities, skate parks and art.

• On the other hand, many young people felt somewhat negatively about the requirement for a country park to be located within 10 miles of homes. Some young people felt that a country park could be developed within 10 miles of homes but that homes should not border the proposed country park

• The young people at both events were not particularly keen that Wi-Fi should be available across the site. Both groups felt that Wi-Fi should be available only within certain areas so that visitors could more fully appreciate the wildlife and plants when visiting the proposed country park.

• The attendants at the Buckskin event ranged from seven to 18 years of age, though the majority of the attendants were aged 12 and under.

• Young people that attended the Bishops Green event were aged between 12 and 18 years of age.

• The Buckskin ward is more urban than the more rural ward of Bishops Green.

There were also differing views on some aspects of the proposed country park. Young people at the Buckskin drop-in event focused largely on outdoor spaces for activities and events, while those at Bishops Green focused more on provision for indoor activities, suggesting features such as indoor swimming pools, pubs and spas as potential features for the country park.

Key facts about the attendees:

The differing responses may reflect the different ages of the participants at the two sessions and also the dissimilar areas of the borough in which they live.

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The opinions from the youth drop-in sessions will be considered alongside the views of other residents gathered during future consultation events around the proposed country park. The combined views will then be considered during the future planning stages for north Manydown when proposals for the borough’s first country park are fully developed.

Young people from across the borough now have the opportunity to become actively involved in the Youth Voice programme, a participation forum facilitated by the borough council’s Children, Young People and Families team which is dedicated to empowering young people to help shape the communities in which they live. As part of their involvement, young people can learn about and engage with proposals for borough development, including future proposals for Manydown.

7NEXT STEPS

The provision of a 250-acre country park is a benefit of the north Manydown development for the borough. As such, the councils are committed to engaging with residents at all stages of life to ensure their ideas help to shape its development.

The youth engagement sessions held at Buckskin and Bishops Green form part of an ongoing programme of youth engagement on the Manydown development, as well as the first stage of a wider programme of engagement around the proposed country park with residents of all ages.

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Report prepared for the Manydown Overview Committee within Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council By Chris Pritchard, Engagement and Communications officer (Manydown) www.manydownbasingstoke.co.uk October 2019