The Play Zone officially opens at Sherwood Avenue Play Park, Newark

The Play Zone part of the ambitious redevelopment of Sherwood Avenue Play Park is officially open.

Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Street Scene Team have worked to make sure that the Play Zone is open for residents to enjoy for the latter part of the school holidays.

The Play Zone has been designed for children to enjoy outdoors, including ten pieces of accessible play equipment, both new and refurbished.

The park also includes an area dedicated for parents to relax in seated areas with a full view of the play area.

The rest of the park will continue to remain closed while work on the rest of the redevelopment takes place including a new Welcome Area, Active Zone and Nature Zone takes place.

Councillor Emma Oldham, portfolio holder for Biodiversity and Environmental Services at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “I am absolutely delighted that the Play Zone at Sherwood Avenue Play Park is open for children to enjoy and that our team at Newark and Sherwood District Council have been able to deliver this exciting new family-friendly area in time to enjoy for the last few weeks of the summer holidays.

“As a parent myself, I know how important these areas are for families to enjoy themselves safely, for free, outdoors and amongst nature – not just during the school holidays but year-round. I know this will be such a vibrant, well-loved asset to our community.

“We know that this park desperately needed some TLC and I am delighted we have provided and secured funding to support Newark Town Council in redeveloping their beautiful park.

“The play zone is just phase one of this fantastic development with lots more to come including a new skate park, splash zone and nature area.

“I am convinced that the short-term closure of the park to facilitate the contractor’s schedules will far outweigh the fantastic benefits it will bring to our residents, both current and future. I can’t wait to see the next phases of the park’s development come to fruition over the next few months too.”

The rest of the park will continue to remain closed while work on the rest of the redevelopment takes place including a new Welcome Area, Active Zone and Nature Zone takes place.

The Welcome Area includes new and improved entrances to the park, one for pedestrian park visitors and another for vehicle access when required.

It will also feature a range of planting, from meadow style planting to a new avenue of ornamental trees.

There will be an outdoor vendor area in this zone, for traders from the area such as coffee or food businesses, performers and entertainers.

The Active Zone at the park will be accessible to all ages and abilities, featuring a brand new, state of the art skate park in the site’s old lido.

Alongside the skate park there will be a resting area, a multi-use sports pitch, a free ride area for biking and skating, a fitness trail with a selection of outdoor exercise equipment.

There will also be a spiralling grass staircase-like trail for visitors to walk up and view across the park, with a mounted plaque to show the direction and distances to local sites such as Newark Castle.

A Silver Birch will lead park visitors into the Nature Zone along a wheelchair-friendly path made from recycled materials.

This area has been designed with biodiversity and wildlife at the heart of the plans, with new habitat areas such as log piles, insect houses, bat boxes and hedgehog hides all included.

An extensive planting programme will also take place to benefit pollinators and foraging wildlife.

Councillor Oldham concludes: “This is such an exciting project that will be brimming with life and reinvigorate this part of our town, which is very important to urban residents. The brand-new planting is really exciting and will make the park a jewel in the town centre; I can’t wait to see it.”

The redevelopment is also part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with £250,000 contributed towards the project.

The plans to reinvigorate the site were developed using the results of the consultation and feedback shared by residents, local community groups and schools.

The District Council and Newark Town Council have worked closely to ensure the ideas from the consultation were captured in the plans.

From the feedback some concerns were raised about anti-social behaviour in the current park and the councils have worked alongside the Police to ensure the plans addressed these concerns.

Councillor Paul Taylor, portfolio holder for Public Protection and Community Relations at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “I am delighted that phase one of the works are now complete and look forward to the safe and welcoming environment the park will bring to our residents.

“The improved CCTV offer at the park is a huge benefit and hopefully will further ensure residents feel safer in our town centre.”

Councillor Dawn Campbell, leader of the Town Council, said: “It's absolutely fantastic to see so many children of all ages playing together.

“It’s going to be really well used and I’m so glad we’ve done it. This wonderful space is free to the community and that’s what Council Tax is all about really.

“This multi-use space has been really well-planned to accommodate all sorts of age groups which has been very important and it will be so nice to see the wildflower and water area for children to play in too, along with the new skate park which skaters and wheelers have all been involved in, with their fantastic contributions really being taken into account.”