Wibsey Park

Feedback Report on Park Research

October 2017

1

ContentsPage

1. Background to the project 3

2. Aims of the research 3

3. Feedback from the park user survey 4

4. Stakeholder interviews 15

5. Having your say-survey monkey 18

6. Key findings 18

7. Feedback from the drop in event 19

8. Ideas for Action plan 20

9. Next steps 20

Appendix, other responses 22

2

1. Background to the Project

In May 2017 Your Back Yard was commissioned by Wibsey ward councillors to

Carry out survey of park users, and those living within a 10minute walk of the park Set up a survey monkey to allow people to complete it on line Aim for 150 completed surveys Input the data Set up a Facebook page Write a comprehensive feedback report, to use as the evidence base for the sport England bid Carry out semi structured interviews with key stakeholders; BCEP, Council officers, Bowling club etc. Contact all local primary schools, and the high school, and visit school councils where possible

2. Aims of the research

Find out what people like and don’t like about the park Get some ideas for improving it To create the evidence base for a funding bid to support the funding of a programme of activities in the park in 2018 To identify new people to join the Friends of group/get involved in the park

The surveys were carried out between June and September, and included 4 sessions done in the park, and 2 focussing on households near the park. In total 73 park user surveys and 27 household surveys were completed.

3. Feedback from the park user survey

3

The sections below sets out the feedback from the 100 surveys carried out to date, and from the stakeholder interviews. There is still some more research to be carried out, mostly with local schools who were on holiday when the bulk of the survey work was done.

Cut through/passing throughTake children to play

Walk the dogGo out for a walk

Feed the ducks/visit the lakeMeeting friends/socialising

Relaxing/peace and quietJoggingcycling

BMX/stakeboardingInformal sport

remote controlled boatingvisit garden centre

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

What is your main reason for visiting the park today?

Number of people

Resp

onse

4

Cut through/passing through

Take children to play

Walk the dog

Go out for a walk

Feed the ducks/visit the lake

Meeting friends/socialising

Relaxing/peace and quiet

Jogging

cycling

BMX/stakeboarding

Informal sport

remote controlled boating

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

What activities do you normally take part in whilst at the park?

Number of people

Activ

ity

The majority of people came to the park to visit the playground, with the next most popular reason being to go for a walk/walk the dog.

5

47%53%

Gender

Male Female

White Pakistani Black Mixed Indian0

20406080

100

Ethnicity

Ethnic group

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

We interviewed slightly more women than men, and in terms of ethnicity the overwhelming number of respondents were white.

very safe safe neither safe nor unsafe

unsafe very unsafe

don’t know

0102030

4050

How safe do you feel in the park?

daytimeevening

Safety

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

64%

2%

31%

3%

How do you normally get to the park?

walk public transportcarcycle

Most people walked to the park, but a significant number came by car. In common with most urban parks, nearly all people felt safe during the day, but a relatively high number felt, or would feel, unsafe at night. People were also asked why they felt unsafe and the reasons were ASB in playground, kids hanging around, teenagers loitering, the dark, too many teenagers in the park of an evening, vandalism, the pond and too many bushes and trees.

6

23%

44%

33%

Over the last 5 years, would you say the park has got

better, stayed the same or got worse? better

sameworse

strongly support

support no strong opinions

would not support

0

20

40

60

On a scale of 1-5 could you rank the following ideas

reinstating the nature trailcreating a dementia friendly walk

Scale of support

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

Interestingly, whilst the majority of people though the park had got worse over the last few years (which is similar to feedback from other urban parks we have researched in the last couple of years) a significant proportion, nearly 25% thought it had got better. This probably reflects the fact that relatively recent improvements have been made. Perhaps not surprisingly, there was strong support for both ideas for improving the park that were suggested to people.

7

volunteering in a café

helping to organise/run events

joining a group, such as the Friends of Wibsey Park, to help run the park

helping with the gardening/horticulture

joining an online 'park users panel' to give views on issues, ideas or planned changes

joining in volunteer days

crown green bowling

dementia walks with students

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Would you be interested in any of the following opportunities?

Number of people

Opp

ortu

nity

Encouragingly a significant number of people expressed an interest in volunteering to help improve the park in the various ways shown above. Of these, nine expressed an interest in joining the ‘Friends of Wibsey Park, which is extremely encouraging as one of the key aims of the project was to find people to join the existing group.

8

74%

13%

13%

Would you or any of your fiends and family be interested in attending a

family fun day?

YesNoMaybe

Nearly 4 out of 5 people said they both supported the idea of a having a family fun day, and would attend. People seemed particularly enthusiastic about the idea of having some programmed activities for all age groups on the day.

9

Different p

arts to

it

the lake

/pond/wate

r

popular, w

ell used quiet

peacef

ul

walks in

gard

ens

nature

playare

a

feeding d

ucks

things for o

lder ch

ildren

close

to house

the bumps

fields

well main

tained

openacc

ess01234567

What would you say are the three best things about Wibsey Park?

Responses

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

As the graph above shows, people expressed a wide range of reasons as to why they liked the park, 35 in total, which reflects the fact the park is enjoyed in many different ways. The most frequently mentioned feature was the play area which, from our visits to the park, appeared to be extremely well used.

10

01020304050

Which of these would encourage you to use the park more often?

1st and 2nd priority/ranking

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

This is a really key question, as one of the key aims of the research is to encourage people to use the park more, and in doing so make it more viable. As is often the case when doing park surveys, the most popular request (particularly amongst those with children) was for toilets, and a café. Interestingly, nobody we spoke to was aware that there was actually a café in the park, within the BCEP buildings. Other popular requests were for improvements to the lake area, and nature trails.

11

more im

provem

ents

oldern ch

ildren

badly b

ehav

ed, A

SB

have a

café

improve

facilti

es

cant g

o for e

vening w

alk

clean

up

more bins

outdoor gym

s

organise

d even

ts

more ad

venture

playgro

und/garden

s

clean

er pond, ti

dy lake

out

improve

flowerbed

s

fencin

g around pond

tidy up ru

bbish/litt

er

kids p

lay ar

ea upgra

de

more acti

vities

vandali

smupkee

pmoney

toilets

TLC, ti

dying u

p

improve

main

tanen

ce

regen

erate,

look a

fter park

, council

ownership

0

2

4

6

Which one thing would you like to change most about Wibsey park?

Response

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

The graph above shows that there is no one really outstanding thing people would like to change about the park. Whilst cleaning out the lake was the most popular, 22 other suggestions were made, but most by only 1 person.

12

Newsletter local paper

websitefacebook

other social mediapark notice board

other people/word of mouthpassing through

Don't find out

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Where do you find out about events taking place in the park?

Number of people

Med

ium

13

Newsletter wibsey word

local paperwebsite

facebookother social mediapark notice board

other people/word of mouthlocal shop

emailleaflet/flyer

community newsgarden centre

communal placeslocal shop and notices

twitter

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

How would you like to get information about the park?

Number of people

Med

ium

Interestingly, people found out about things happening in the park from very traditional methods, notice board, word of mouth and the local paper. Also, a lot of people stated that they didn’t know what was going on in the park, and would not know where to get any information apart from word of mouth. In terms of how people would like to get information Facebook, which is increasingly the case these days, was by far the preferred medium. However, there was also a lot of requests for more traditional forms of notification, such as newsletters and noticeboards. This does strongly suggest that any marketing strategy (which would appear to be sorely needed) needs to be very diverse, and to employ a mixture of methods to appeal to all sectors of the population.

14

When asked about ideas for improving the park, again, there was a wide variety of responses. Tidying up the pond was most frequently mentioned, followed by a general clean up, and tackling anti-social behaviour.

Can you sum up Wibsey Park in a few words?

The appendix sets out the full responses to this question. In summary, people tended to think it was a lovely park, great to go for a walk, or bring children, which was peaceful and good for the community. There was very little comment of a negative nature.

4. Key stakeholders interviews

In addition to the survey of park users and nearby households, we also carried out semi structured interviews with a number of organisations with a potentially big part to play in the future of the park.

(i) Bowling club

We spoke to a number of members of bowling club, all of whom had been coming to the park for many years, and had witnessed many changes. The main points to arise from that conversation are set out below:

There have been many problems with teenagers and anti-social behaviour (ASB), with people climbing under the fencing and getting onto the Bowling Green. As a result, additional fencing has been put in underneath to prevent this from happening, as well as anti-climb paint. Warning signs have been made about these precautions so people are aware. It was felt that once the ASB began, firstly with the damaging of the park lodge, that this signalled to others that ASB and damaging the park is acceptable.

The park lodge was also a fond memory of the members-there had once been a gardener/park warden who lived there, and at one point was also used as a café. However this stopped some years ago and in recent years the lodge has been regularly vandalised.

Increased ASB was also a growing problem, as evidenced by the fact, for a time, the cream van would not visit the park because of abusive behaviours.

It was also noted how the entrance to the park had previously had well-maintained flower beds, which provided attractive gateways to the park (these were also mentioned by other people we surveyed, who thought that the flower beds brightened up the park) and also helped deter ASB as it gave the impression of people taking pride in the park.

15

Boats were previously found on the lake, which had been a really popular feature, however they were long gone and the lake had become dirty and in need of dredging, with overgrown plants and weeds needing to be cut back.

The bandstand was also a popular feature with the stakeholders’, who stated how this was used during park events, such as the circus.

(ii) BCEP

Bradford Community Environment Project (BCEP) are an environmental charity located within the park. They provide a community garden, in addition to a range of other services, such as a cooking club, a breakfast club, outreach work, dementia awareness work, a café, horticultural activities etc. As such they are a key stakeholder in the park, and could and should have a major role to play in park developments.

With regard to what improvements would they like to see, they felt there was a lack investment in the park, and that there need to be more staff in the park on a regular basis, looking after it. They felt there was limited funding coming into the park, and an example of this was the park lodge having to close. They also felt there need to be more engagement, and that they had struggled to create sustainable partnerships with the local schools.

It was suggested to them that their café (currently only open 2 days a week and most people didn’t seem to be aware of it) could be opened up more regularly, and could raise its profile amongst park users. However, they did not think this would work on a volunteer basis, hence someone would need to provide some funding to them so they could staff it (not sure how this could be made sustainable?)

In addition to opening up the café, they thought they could do more, for example around cycling activity, if they had access to more funding.

(iii) The Sandale Trust

We met with Andy and Tom at the beginning of July, in their offices on the Buttershaw estate less than half a mile from Wibsey Park. The Trust provide a range of services, for all sectors of the community, but particularly young people, from a central community hub, including a community kitchen, a lunch club, support for people into employment, bingo and other community activities. They also run a charity shop, stocked with donated items from a range of sources, and pass them on to people in the local community based on their need. A number of people they have supported now work for, or volunteer for, the Trust.

16

They were very enthusiastic about the prospect of being a partner in any initiatives to improve Wibsey Park. They also suggested the idea of having a volunteer day in the park, which they could support.

The idea of holding a Family Fun day was mentioned, and they said they would be delighted to attend, and could provide a DJ, music and provide a range of activities aimed at young people (they employ a full time youth worker). They would also advertise the event, and any subsequent activities, through their various networks.

(iv) Local schools

All 4 local primary schools, and the local high school, were contacted. They were told about the research and asked if we could visit them, and possibly talk to the school council, with a view to getting the views of young people, and possibly a long term partner in the school themselves.

It was very close to the end of the school year, and only one school got back to us. They were keen on the idea of us meeting the school council, but thought the autumn term would be a better time to do it. We have since contacted them all again, filled them in on developments, and invited them to the drop in to discuss findings, ideas for improving the park and next steps.

(v) Paul Brown the Pastor of Beacon Community Church

The church is located near the park and the Pastor explained the church are very community focussed, and keen to expand the range of services they already provide by way of community projects. They already run exercise classes at the church for mums and children, and do classes for older people too. They get a high turnout every week, thanks to the good links they have with the local community. The Pastor said he'd like to hear more about how our research from Wibsey park goes and was interested in the work that ‘Your Back Yard’ did. He also said that if we needed an indoor space to host meetings about the park or anything else, he'd be happy to let us use the church. He was also keen to get young people involved (a lot of people stated in the survey they were scared of teenagers hanging around the park) and would like to look at the possibility of opening the church up as a youth club for a few nights every week.

The church are well placed, in terms of their location and enthusiasm, to be a key partner in terms of initiatives aimed at getting more people into the park. For example many of the indoor activities they provides now could be held outside during the spring/summer months.

17

5. Having Your Say

There is still time to have your say on the park, and how it could be improved. Just click on the link below, and there is a short survey you can fill in.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WHRR7SS

6. Key Findings

The section below sets out some of the main findings are from the research:

People use the park for a wide variety of reasons, but walking and taking children to play are the most popular reasons people visit The most likely time of day people visit the park is in the afternoon People tend to spend between 1 and 2 hours in the park There are a significant number of people interested in volunteering to help improve the park Most people, in fact nearly all, walked to the park The majority of people had no clear idea as to where they would find out information as to events taking place in the park A café and toilets would do most to encourage more use of the park There was very strong support for the ideas of reinstating of a nature trail, creating a dementia friendly walk and having a Family fun

day The most popular improvement would be to clean up the lake More people think the park has got worse over the last 5 years, rather than better The majority of people who use the park are very positive about the space, and most of the facilities within it Many people thought the park just needed a bit more care and attention, rather than major investment in infrastructure There are some key stakeholders, including the local church, and the Sandale Trust, who could be instrumental in making any

improvement plan sustainable

18

7. Feedback event

A drop in event was held at the Bowling club in the park on October 18th. To feedback the results to people, and to get any more ideas for improving the park. There was a great turn out, with people from all ages dropping in demonstrating lots of enthusiasm for the park, and with lots of thoughts on how it could be made even better. There was also a lot of interest in joining the ‘Friends of Wibsey Park group, to help make those things happen

Feedback from young people

A group of 5 or 6 young people were there, together with a youth worker, and we did a small discussion session with them, the main findings from which were:

They really like the swings, play area, and all the equipment Older kids would like a chill out area Teenagers misbehaving, particularly of an evening are an issue As was graffiti in the play areas Rubbish in the pond needs clearing Inter generational stuff would be good, e.g. the bowling club teaching youngsters to bowl-could have under 14’s/16’s Bowls teams A café that everyone knew about would be a big attraction, maybe ran by volunteers, and done on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis How about an extension to the skate park? Or a new, bigger slide Should have more fun days and events in the park

General feedback from the evening

A lot of facilities have been lost in the last few years; hockey pitches, cricket pitches, boats on the lake etc…. Nobody appears to use the football or rugby pitches, is that because of poor drainage, could these not be used to generate income? Need the entrances to be more cheerful, e.g. with nice planting as you go in (which used to the vase at the entrance near the Lodge A Park walk would work really well, given the size of the park and the number of people who libe nearby Open up the space, cut back trees that are shielding areas. Security in the park – miss the park ranger. Beacon Community Church – keen to get involved. Intergenerational activities e.g. afternoon tea.

19

Car parking obstructing pathways is a problem Community Gardens would be a good idea, could appeal to all ages-another ingeneration activity? Would be good to have more access to Bowling Club Facilities

8. Ideas for the Action plan

One of the stated outcomes of the research was to draw up an action plan of short term actions and improvements that could be made to make the park even better, focussed initiatives that would not require significant amounts of funding, and could therefore be delivered in the next 12 months. Some of the ideas we have identified are set out below:

-undertake a feasibility into establishing a volunteer run café- hold a family fun day event in May-run a programme of ‘healthy living park’ fun activities; sports dancing, yoga, cycling etc, to be held in the park over the summer-install a dementia trail to make the park dementia friendly-dredge the lake- find some users for the BTEC site-organise some volunteer led ‘tidy up’ days (with the new ‘Friends of’ group)-restore the nature trail-increase use of the sports fields-set up a programme of intergenerational activities -a Facebook page/more marketing, intergenerational activities, etc) -incorporate the Friends of group

9. Next steps

Circulate the Feedback report through various networks, and give people an opportunity to comment Go back to the schools, now they should have a bit more time on their hands, and try and get a session with a school council, to get the

views of young people Combine the data from the park and household surveys Get some feedback from members of the boating club Hold a meeting of the Friends of group to look at the findings and oversee next steps

20

Set up a Facebook Page Speak to key people within the council Prepare a bid for funding to support a programme of activities next summer/autumn, seeking funding from either ‘Awards for All’, or

Sport England small projects fund (both provide grants of up to £10,000) Do another short survey, of park users/schoolchildren, to find out what kinds of activities they would like to see in the park (to

underpin the above funding bid)

Appendix

Responses to question ‘how would you sum up the park?’

21

very green nice balance of activity and tranquillity I like it, its suitable nice area, open space lived here for 45 years, lots of memories cool convenient, green space community, central, kids, variety lucky kids love going meeting friends essential, somewhere to exercise, fresh air could be utilised better space, people are friendly, clean somewhere I have always gone nice green area ncie during the day but not in night lovely green space to switch off from the world I enjoy it a great 'community hub' nice and flat easy to walk around very lovely nice park to sit community park great way to spend time with kids easy and convenient

22

pleasant to bring granddaughter nice for walks ideal for local children get out with children for a break good for community chance for older kids to play somewhere for kids ideal for family time Nice play area second home for kids somewhere nice and peaceful to go nice to have local good fun place/fun close to home needs improvement nice, kids and dogs to go and meet people and dog walks has got what need, walks

23