Have your say: Sandringham Park Consultation

Sandringham Park is a green flag award-winning park near the centre of Wetherby. You can

access it from York Place off Deighton Road, or from Sandringham Road. Have your say: Sandringham Park Consultation.

It is owned by Wetherby Town Council and is a ‘Field in Trust’ green space which means that

it is protected so that it will be available for the people of Wetherby forever.

The Town Council is grateful to the Friends of Sandringham Park which is a group of local

volunteers who improve the park by undertaking planting, conservation and other projects and help with maintenance like litter picking and weeding. They have been instrumental in helping to care for the park since the group was formed in 2010.

In January 2009 an area of the park was leased to Leeds City Council and a playground was

created. That lease ends in early 2024 and it has been agreed that Wetherby Town Council

will take back responsibility for the whole site.

With the lease ending and the play equipment coming towards the end of its working life the Town Council has an opportunity to ask residents what they would like for the next phase of Sandringham Park’s development.

It is the Town Council’s mission to enhance Sandringham Park as a safe, peaceful green space that can be enjoyed by all people.

The Town Council is launching a consultation in the form of an open questionnaire that

everyone with an interest in Sandringham Park can reply to.

The questionnaire can be accessed in the following ways:

• Online at: https://forms.office.com/e/ARK6S1uQm5

• Using the QR code provided.

• Using paper copies available in the Town Hall which is open from 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

The questionnaire will be open for responses until 15th September 2023.

Over the next month, the Council will also be engaging with stakeholders including

neighbouring residents, the Friends of Sandringham Park and the parents of and people with disabilities.

The questionnaire will form the starting point for discussions, but the council is keen to have detailed discussions with everyone who has a special interest in the park.

With that in mind, the council would like to invite parents, carers and their children to the park on Thursday 31st August between 1 and 3pm. Town Council representatives will be on hand with art supplies to encourage younger users of the site to come up with designs for their perfect park as part of their opportunity to tell us what they’d really like.

Blank copies of the site plan are also available online and in the Town Hall for any parent

looking for a rainy afternoon activity over the next few weeks.

The responses to this initial consultation will be made public and be used:

• To draw up a specification for the tender for a replacement playground.

• To help guide further improvements in the park.

A second consultation on the designs received will be carried out later in the year before a

preferred contractor is selected. It is hoped that, once funding is secured, the new playground can be installed in mid-2024.