Bussage Pleasure Ground Play Equipment Project, Chalford Parish Council, Stroud, Glos

This is a project to develop the play area within Bussage Pleasure Ground. The PC wants to provide new equipment that offers ‘access to all’ as it believes it is vital that everyone in the Parish can access the play equipment and feel included and involved in the local community.

The PC wishes to purchase equipment especially designed to achieve this, with a ground level roundabout and trampoline. It also wants to fence the play area off so that children can play safely, and to provide wheelchair access from the road directly into the fenced area to benefit disabled children and/or parents.

21.4% of the population of Chalford Parish are under 20 years old; 14.6% of people in the Parish are classified as Disabled, under the Equality Act. The Pleasure Ground is very popular as a result. A consultation was conducted with the people of the Parish to ask for their feedback on the proposed project which got a hugely positive response. In particular people liked the idea of a fenced play area so that children can play without disturbance from dogs or other park users. Additionally, they felt a need for improving the access to the play area for disabled users. A local parish recently updated its play area and did not include ‘access for all’ consideration and has been strongly criticised for this, which highlights how important this is for local residents. The PC had identified both the need and how it could proceed with this several years ago but have not had the funds available to proceed.