Improve a valuable green space / leisure area at St Thomas Square Play Park

This valuable local resource for the neighbourhood of Coleridge should be protected from development. It is deeply shocking and gravely disappointing that a local greenfield space should be under threat from development during a climate and biodiversity crisis. This place of nature, leisure and play frequented by local residents, their children and dogs (it is a very popular place for local dog owners) must now be valued by its local council and energies should now turn to enhancing it, not decimating it. It is felt this area has been overlooked for improvements in recent years, perhaps purposefully.

For example, there is nowhere to sit outside of the enclosed children's play area currently, apart from on the grass which is not ideal for users of the park who are elderly or who have mobility challenges. For everyone, benches mean a place to rest, take the sun, have a conversation - they make parks a good choice for a catch up with a friend or a good spot just to sit on your own chatting on the phone in private. It's odd that this park has never had more benches/picnic tables. Therefore, it is high time 3 or 4 benches/picnic tables were placed in this park (especially in the area pictured in the accompanying photograph). The park is strikingly bereft of anywhere to sit outside the actual play area at the moment. It would be great if a bench was placed in front of the play area as well so parents can watch their children playing.

Note: any picnic tables should be wheelchair accessible ones.

In addition, there could be a wildflowers meadow planted in the corner of the park closest to the entrance which already boasts lush green vegetation ideal for insects such as ground beetles, ladybirds and hoverflies. Butterfly/moth and bee-friendly wildflowers here would increase the variety of insects in the park. It should also be mentioned here that the well established trees in the park are home to birds, and bats have been sighted in this park also.

This park was a place of restoration for wellbeing during the pandemic; during the covid pandemic, one resident with compromised immunity used it to get exercise in the late evenings when others had adjourned. It continues to be a haven for wellbeing for the many residents living around it who have dogs and regularly congregate on the grass to socialise. It is believed that with more love and attention paid to it, these positive aspects of St Thomas Square Play park could be enhanced and this is why it is deserving of investment via the Environmental Improvement Programme.