Wealden Open Space Consultation

Status: Closed

We are asking residents, visitors, businesses, Town and Parish Councils and any other interested parties for their opinions on public open space in Wealden District.

Public open space provides opportunities for sport and recreation, socialising, tourism and wildlife, making an important contribution to the health and well-being of communities, ecosystems and economies. Wealden has a variety of public open spaces for us all to enjoy from small play areas to much larger parks for example.

We are gathering information to understand our current accessible open space provision and whether this meets the needs and aspirations of Wealden’s local residents, workers and visitors.

We have appointed Knight, Kavanagh & Page to undertake this research. The study involves carrying out a comprehensive audit and assessment of the supply and demand of open space types across Wealden.

The information provided will provide us with valuable information to inform our Local Plan and create an up-to-date strategy for our public open spaces in Wealden.

The work will update the previous Open Space Study and will take account of recent developments, new open spaces and changing community views.

Open space is often viewed as areas of grassed land offering opportunities for recreation, sport and/or exercise. There are a number of ‘categories’ of open space including local parks and gardens, country parks, nature reserves, common land, accessible woodland, play areas for children and teenagers, amenity green space, cemeteries and churchyards as well as our foot, cycle and bridleway network. An explanation of the different types of open space is provided at the beginning of the survey.

Once the consultation finishes our consultants will analyse the responses to help inform our updated Open Space Study for Wealden.

To find out more about your local open spaces visit our Healthy Wealden website.

For key findings and changes made see results below:

Topics covered by this consultation:

Planning

Consultation Start Date: 17/08/2021

Consultation End Date: 28/09/2021

Results expected by: 29/10/2021

Please note: these dates are subject to change.

Areas covered by this consultation:

Wealden District (All)

Target audience for this consultation:

Wealden Residents, Wealden Businesses, Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations, Partners in the Public Sector

Frequency of this consultation: One-off

Methods of consultation used:

Online Survey (All Public)

What Happens Next?

Once the consultation finishes our consultants will analyse the responses to help inform our updated Open Space Study for Wealden.

The information provided will provide us with valuable information to inform our Local Plan and create an up-to-date strategy for our public open spaces in Wealden.