Open space and leisure

There will be the provision of up to 1500sqm of community and indoor sports facilities as part of the replacement school. Within the new development there will be many opportunities for recreation and play; a mixture of formal and informal activities within indoor and outdoor environments. A new all-weather pitch will also be provided for school and community use.

As part of the overall development proposals, the following facilities will be provided. The proposals will meet the need for an effective recreation strategy in the following ways: urban parks, amenity areas, informal recreation, sports-grounds/playing fields and various children’s play-areas.

• A range of easily accessible play spaces for residents.
• A safe place for everyone participating in outdoor activities.
• Good access to a range of sporting facilities, suitable for organised group activities.
• Plenty of scope for informal activities.
• Equipped play-areas
• Sports pitches
• All-weather pitch
• Allotments.

Open spaces are to be provided to the north of the Merton Rise development and west of the school site between the two shelterbelts and to the west of Marnel Park adjoining Marnel Dell.

To the immediate north of the development will be various open spaces including playing-fields and structural landscaping, designed not only for the amenity of residents but to establish a soft edge to the development.

Each development will also have an appealing mixture of urban squares and neighbourhood greens. These spaces will have a crucial role in expanding the development’s identity and providing opportunities for social interaction.

These areas will be spaces whose function is primarily informal. They may include landscaped, paved and soft areas, plus seating. These areas will consist of a number of spaces, squares, incidental green areas and parts of larger parks.

Amenity areas will include the following in the Merton Rise site: the neighbourhood square; the school square; the spine road square; green areas at the A340 gateway; the Sherborne Road and Popley Way junctions and the Chineham Lane/Spine Road junction. The Marnel Park and John Hunt of Everest developments will also provide similar informal, open spaces for residents.

There will be a variety of informal recreation areas in the Merton Rise development with a range of uses. The main area of provision will be a local park in the north and east of the site and the shelterbelt parks, which will provide suitable locations for children to play in.

The open spaces will include sports fields including a shared use synthetic turf pitch and a public open space comprised primarily of mown turf, landscaped with appropriate shrubs and trees. The new school will include three grassed playing pitches with an athletics track and cricket pitch on land between Sherborne Road and the existing eastern tree belt. These pitches and a new football pitch on land between Chineham lane and Sherborne Road will be for school use only. Two new football pitches are to be provided on the Marnel Park site.

Careful consideration will be given to ensure high quality, appropriate and well-sited play facilities are incorporated within the development. The strategy is to provide distinct play facilities that are clustered together in one location and are of the highest possible quality.

Within the development, a number of different types of play spaces will be provided to cater for children of different ages and abilities in line with National Playing Fields Association Guidelines (NPFA):

Neighbourhood Equipped Area for Play (NEAP’s)
NEAP’s should cater for kids eight years and older, with at least 8 types of play area. There should be opportunities for ball games or wheeled activities. Ideally, they should be located no more than 1500m away from all homes.

Local Equipped Area for Play (LEAP’s)
LEAP’s should cater for children between the ages of 4 and 8 years old. Ideally, there should be at least 5 types of play area. The North Popley development has three separate proposed LEAP’s.

Local Area for Play (LAP’s)
These should cater for children less than 4 years in age. They will be informal, perhaps including a low-key games area, and distributed throughout the North of Popley Way development.

Older children and teenagers will also be provided with facilities compatible with their age group’s needs.

New Allotments will be located on land between the A340 and the western tree belt. Further allotments will also be provided at Marnel Park.