Woodmancote Community Space and Playpark – Ball Games Area Resurfacing, North Cerney Parish Council, Glos

Following the successful application to ECT in July 2024 for funding to deliver what is now an award-winning community space and playpark for the village of Woodmancote, the Parish Council is keen to undertake the next phase of the project – the resurfacing and marking out of the tarmacadam ball games zone. The current surface has been in place for more than 25 years and is breaking down, presenting a skid and injury risk, and encouraging the growth of moss and weeds. Resurfacing will transform the area, and new line markings for the goal mouth/netball hoop (installed in phase one) and existing basketball net will enhance player experience.

The success of the new community space since its official opening in April 2025 has been hugely gratifying. It received a Gloucestershire CPRE Community Award last year and has provided inspiration for a number of other play space projects in this part of Gloucestershire. Those involved with the project have supported other groups with advice and guidance in their efforts to achieve their own community spaces. It was always part of the plan to re-surface the ball games zone, as there are young people in the village and the wider community who regularly use the space to practise sports they play at school and college. Children also love kicking a ball about with their parents and siblings and so, with a smooth, fit-for-purpose, surface, everyone can enjoy the area for its intended purpose, completing the wider space’s community offering.
Environmental considerations: To reduce the environmental impact of this phase, the existing tarmacadam surface will be swept, a bitumen emulsion spread across the area, and a new wearing course applied. In this way construction waste is kept to an absolute minimum and the transportation of excessive amounts of new material is avoided. The Parish Council has been advised that the original base layers of the original, professionally installed, tennis court are perfectly sound and do not, therefore, require digging out and replacing with new. The
selection of the Preferred Supplier was also influenced by the preference for a locally based contractor, reducing mileage and fuel use.

Hard to reach considerations: Woodmancote village has a comparatively large number of social housing properties for its size, housing young families and older people. Constructed in the early 1960s this housing development, which is adjacent to the playpark, brought its own societal problems to the village as a ‘them and us’ situation developed. Through the efforts of villagers working over the ensuing years to break down barriers, relationships now are greatly improved and normalised. A strong community group has been established and a range of communications to reach all homes in the village on a regular, at least monthly, basis. This playpark and community space project is having a hugely positive and energising impact on changing perceptions, and building trust.