Award Winner: Park View 4 U

Park View 4U is a charity formed in Jan 2004 by members of the local community who were frustrated by the lack of facilities in Lytham for young people.

The original idea was just to provide a few new swings and slides. However we quickly became a registered charity and swung into action.

The park has been built to last through careful and thorough development of the site, such as addressing infrastructure needs at the beginning of the scheme, which included land drainage, two new cycle paths, a car park and road safety improvements, then choosing the best quality equipment.

The local community has remained firmly in the decision making seat throughout the development through various consultation initiatives and regular opportunities for involvement, drawing on the advice of partners as appropriate. We have been particularly successful at finding imaginative ways of engaging with the wider community and keeping the project in the public eye.

We successfully raised substantial amounts of funding (£1.5 million) and accomplished the refurbishment of the park to create a very busy amenity. The park has been designed as ‘3G’ and provides facilities for three generations of users. The park is now helping people of all ages to lead more active lives from aided Tai Chi equipment for the older users to a toddler area for the little ones. a Teenzone, a B.M.X track, a Multi Use Games Area, a skate park and 4 grass football pitches. Recent additions have included a Woodland Walk with tree carvings, a quiet story area & picnic areas, a fitness trail an Amphitheatre and the building of a café and community centre.

 However the biggest success is the building of a new community as a result of our regular park users. This has had a knock on effect in the town with less juvenile nuisance and anti social behavior. The park has brought the community closer together and young people now spend most of their free time together on the park.

WHAT WE ARE DOING
We have just opened our Café and Community Centre, which is the heart of the park and is staffed via Lottery funding, through the Reaching Communities Program. The Café will be run as a social enterprise with all the profits being ploughed back into the project. This has enabled us to employ 7 staff who will be delivering opportunities for community engagement for all ages through the various programs and activities on offer from the new centre.

The park has already made such a difference to our community, reducing anti- social behavior, breaking down barriers and creating a more united community so the possibilities for engagement from the new centre are endless.

We have already started some of the programs and the results have been astounding ie In January we started a community choir we have over 320 members and the positive impact the choir has made to the participants is astounding.

We have just gained QEII Status for the park, meaning we have secured the long term future of the site as a recreational space for ever.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A BIG SOCIETY AWARD WINNER
Winning the Big Society Award is a great honour for our group; the impact of the award will raise awareness and hopefully enable us to reach out to similar groups across the country, showing them how easy it can be to engage the local community.

This project has made a tangible difference to everyone who takes part; there is no reason why this can’t be replicated elsewhere in the country.

We have a wealth of experience which would love to share with other groups. We are planning on running “How we did it” workshops from our new community centre, this will enable us to pass on our experience to many other groups around the country.

www.parkview4u.org.uk

Twitter @pv4ulytham

info@parkview4u.org.uk