Victoria Park

Friends of Victoria Park first meeting

20 February 2018 2 Comments

Friends of Victoria Park first meeting

  • Hubert Fountain6:00pm
  • Monday 5th March
  • Civic Centre,
    Tannery Lane,TN23 1LP

Ashford Borough Council have secured initial funding to develop a £3.7m restoration and improvement project for Victoria Park and Watercress Fields, thanks to support from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund. The Council are working with a number of specialists who will help us to undertake historic research about the park, explore ideas for activities, events, schools resources and training, as well as developing designs for restoration and improvement works.

As part of the project The Council are setting up a Friends of Victoria Park group. Please do come along to this first no commitment evening, you can find out more about what a friends group does and how you can get involved.

Ashford Borough Council, Environment, News, Victoria Park

Victoria Park Community Consultation Event

20 February 2018 0 Comments

Victoria Park Community Consultation Event

Saturday 21st April

Ashford Borough Council have secured initial funding to develop a £3.7m restoration and improvement project for Victoria Park and Watercress Fields, thanks to support from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund. The Council are working with a number of specialists who will help us to undertake historic research about the park, explore ideas for activities, events, schools resources and training, as well as developing designs for restoration and improvement works.

Come along to Victoria Park, meet the project team, find out what’s been happening and give them your views

Ashford Borough Council, Consultation, Environment, News, Victoria Park

Victoria Park and Watercress Fields

15 February 2018 0 Comments

Victoria Park and Watercress Fields

Ashford Borough Council

Parks for People: Explore Victoria Park and Watercress Fields

Have you discovered Ashford’s largest and most central park yet?

There’s something for everyone at Victoria Park and Watercress Fields; including a wealth of history, exciting play spaces, interesting ecology, and quiet spaces to relax.

Download a plan of Victoria Parks and Watercress Fields.

The park has a pivotal role to play in connecting residents with the town’s history, the local area and the built, cultural and natural heritage of the site. Not only that, but it also a great space to explore the environment and access the great outdoors.

Funding

Now Ashford Borough Council (ABC) are looking to make the park an even better place to visit, with thanks to support from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund. ABC have secured initial funding to develop a £3.7m restoration and improvement project.

Plans for Victoria Park

The future aims include Green Flag status for the park, building upon the opportunities for community engagement and participation, promoting outdoor activities, and enabling volunteers to gain new skills.

How you can help

ABC looking to form an active Friends Group for joined-up community participation and to enable local residents to shape the future of the area.

Please tell us what you think by completing a short online survey
www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Ashford-Victoria_Park.

To help ABC develop the plans, we’d love to hear what you think about the park and what changes you would like to see.

Sign up to the newsletter

If you would like to receive a regular newsletter (via the ABC website) that will provide an update of news, events and project progress, please provide your email address, and we will be in touch.

 

Get in touch

If you would like to get in touch, or to find out more about the project,
please email the team. victoriapark@ashford.gov.uk

Ashford Borough Council, Community, Consultation, Environment, News, Victoria Park

SACF respond to KE Parkrun article

2 October 2017 0 Comments

South Ashford Community Forum (SACF) have responded to an article regarding ParkRun in the Kentish Express on 28 September 2017. The article results from a discussion at the SACF June Meeting, the minutes of which can be viewed here (opens in Google online reader)

SACF recognise that ParkRun is the type of activity for which public parks, including Victoria Park, are suited. We do, however, believe that all users of Victoria Park should respect other users. However, it appears that some ParkRun participants are not giving other users that respect. This is illustrated by the reports we have received from some users and by the comments of some ParkRun supporters on the article on the Kent Online Facebook page and Kent Online website that imply that other Park users should not use the Park while ParkRun is in progress.

It may not be possible for more than 200 runners to use the main foot/cycle paths through the Park at a time when many other people are using them as part of their regular journey from South Ashford and Singleton into the Town Centre without causing some difficulties for both groups.

As a result of Ashford Borough Council’s successful bid for funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we are looking forward to the formation of a community group that will provide a practical contribution to the maintenance of the Park, and act as a forum for discussions on how the Park can be developed and used by all parties. We hope that all user groups, including ParkRun, will actively participate in that forum helping to promote understanding between users and make the Park a safer and more enjoyable place for everyone.

Environment, Health, News, SACF, Victoria Park

HLF Funding for Victoria Park

17 July 2017 0 Comments

Hubert FountainA bid by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) has led to the award of £ 167,000, as the first stage of a proposal for £ 3.2 million, from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund England’s Parks for People programme. The funds will be used toward the development stage of the Council’s Victoria Park and Watercess Fields Masterplan.

Chris Dixon,  Arts and Cultural Industry Manager at ABC, commented to South Ashford Community Forum, when the application was submitted, “The priority for the programme is to conserve the existing heritage of the designated park, intending to make a significant difference to heritage, people and communities in the area. It is a two stage application process. The first stage is to develop a more detailed second round proposal. We are at the very earliest point, with no confirmed detailed plans, but have an ambition to:

  • refurbish the Hubert fountain and piazza;
  • reintroduce or recognise lost cultural and natural heritage elements;
  • provide a volunteers compound and other community facilities; and
  • put in place a range of community events and activities including a new ‘Friends Group’ etc.

The award follows the signing of a number of Section 106 agreements that allocate nearly £ 470,000, due to be paid on occupation of local developments.

Ashford Borough Council, Community, Environment, Finance, Heritage, News, Victoria Park

Agreement brings money to Victoria Park

5 June 2017 0 Comments

The Section 106 Agreement for the North Travis Perkins site in Victoria Crescent, signed last week, includes a contribution of £ 21,514 for the ‘Victoria Park Improvement Project’. This will be added to contributions of £ 270,002 from the Powergen site development, £ 150,000 from the Victoria Way development.

In addition to in excess of £ 440,000 from Section 106 contributions, the results of an application by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for Parks for People funding are expected by the end of this month. Although there are, as yet, no confirmed detailed plans, ABC have an ambition to: refurbish the Hubert fountain and piazza; reintroduce or recognise lost cultural and natural heritage elements; provide a volunteers compound and other community facilities; and put in place a range of community events and activities including a new ‘Friends Group’ etc. from the HLF funding.

The Section 106 Contributions will be used for other elements of the Victoria Park and Watercress Fields Masterplan adopted by ABC’s Cabinet on 10 March 2016. (more…)

Ashford Borough Council, Finance, News, Planning and Development, Victoria Park

Parks face threat of decline with severe consequences

26 April 2017 0 Comments

The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Committee report on public parks warns that parks are at a tipping point and face a period of decline with potentially severe consequences unless their vital contribution to areas such as public health, community integration and climate change mitigation is recognised.

Councils should publish strategic plans

The Public parks report highlights considerable challenges for the sector including reduced council spending, with parks management budgets cut by up to 97 per cent, the need for parks to compete with other services for funding, and planning policy not giving them enough weight, particularly as a result of pressures to increase housing supply.

The Committee call on councils to publish strategic plans, which recognise the value of parks beyond leisure and recreation and set out how they will be managed to maximise their contribution to wider local authority agendas, such as promoting healthy lifestyles, tackling social exclusion and managing flood risk. It is hoped these plans will open up parks to support and funding beyond their usual budgets and service areas.

Ashford Borough Council (ABC) has included improvement to parks and open space in its corporate plan
www.ashford.gov.uk/the-five-year-corporate-plan-for-aspiration-action-and-achievement-2015-2020

The Victoria Park and Watercress Fields Masterplan was adopted by ABC’s Cabinet on 10 March 2016 
https://southashford.org.uk/index.php/2016/03/04/victoria-park-masterplan/
(more…)

Ashford Borough Council, Environment, Heritage, News, Victoria Park

#ParksMatter

8 September 2016 0 Comments

Our Parks Matter video

Action is needed to avert a crisis that will undermine more than two decades of investment in the UK’s public parks, according to a new Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) report. www.hlf.org.uk/state-uk-public-parks-2016

Thanks to National Lottery players, our parks are in great shape. With the Big Lottery Fund, HLF have invested over £ 850 million in more than 800 of the UK’s public parks, improving facilities, renovating historic features and making them more popular than ever.

But according to our new State of UK Public Parks 2016 report, there is a growing deficit between the rising use of parks and the declining resources available to manage them.

Two years on from the first report into the state of UK parks, the downward trend in condition and maintenance we predicted in 2014 looks set to continue and many of our precious parks and green spaces face an uncertain future. (more…)

Ashford Borough Council, Environment, News, SACF, Victoria Park

Bowens Field Bridges

20 July 2016 0 Comments

Important message for those coming to Create on foot

Please note that one of the footbridges in Bowens Field (no.2 on the left of the plan below) has had to be closed for urgent repair.

Boens Field Bridge

With Create coming up on Saturday, accessing Victoria Park from Beaver Road, access is still available through the footpath/cycle path in Bowens Field via the entrance into Godfrey Walk (marked no.1 on the right of the plan).

You can also walk through Bowens Field housing estate via the footways.

Ashford Borough Council 20 July 2016
www.ashford.gov.uk/news/bowens-field-bridges-20th-jul-1419/

 

Ashford Borough Council, Events, News, Victoria Park

Sculpture Trail installed

19 July 2016 0 Comments


A Young Peoples Sculpture Trail Sculpture Trail has been installed in Victoria Park in readiness for the official unveiling at Create Music Festival (www.createfestival.co.uk/ ➚) on Saturday. Ashford Borough Council commissioned artist Martin Brockman of Outdoor Studios (http://outdoorstudiosarts.com/ ➚) to create the sculptures with children from Ashford Oaks and St. Simon’s Primary Schools and Victoria Park Nursery. Martin Brockman will have a stand in the new Love Ashford Zone at Create and will be giving out maps, info and leading tours of the trail.

The trail has been funded by a Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ grant www.tesco.com/carrier-bags/ ➚.

Ashford Borough Council, Children, Environment, News, Victoria Park