Our aspirations for the next year are in line with our aims of protecting, enhancing, promoting the park.  We want so much from our park at a time when there is a funding crisis in parks across the country.  We are luckier than some where broken swings aren’t replaced yet we have investment in a new skate park and improvements at the pond.
 
Protecting: Our aspiration is to have the park protected in perpetuity by the Fields in Trust scheme. The park’s role as a community asset is even more vital when we consider climate change; it is a carbon sink, provides urban cooling, is a vital green space in town for wildlife and people. We need to protect it so we can take a long term view for maximizing its value for all and climate change. 
 
Enhancing

• We are aiming for a gold award in the Large Parks’ category of the In Bloom competition next year.
• We’d like to focus on making the park entrances more welcoming. 
  • The planned planting at North Street – we’ve proposed that this be named the Queen Elizabeth bed
  • The Ribbon border along North Street is in need of investment and this forms an important entrance to the park as to the town  from the station
  • The REC/jubilee car park entrance from the town is in need of some TLC
  • We’d like the Park noticeboards to be more inspiring and focused on promoting the park and what we do – also ensuring a display without notices that fall down inside the cabinet
• Now that we are looking after so many of the beds in the park, we’d like to increase the compositing on site so that we have easier access to mulch
• We’d like to assess whether recycling of rubbish can be reinstated
• We’re supporting the siting of the Shelley Memorial in the Park
• We’d like to see progress on the Access for All path – a wider path for pushchairs, wheelchairs, cycles and that would also facilitate parkrun to take place during the winter.

Keep promoting

• We continue to promote the park as an inclusive green space – highlighting in our social media the range of things available to enjoy in the park.
• We also want to continue to grow the network of organisations using the volunteering opportunities in the park for wellbeing for their clients
• Overall we are promoting the value of the park to residents and visitors all year round – our Welcome Winter campaign starting in November will encourage people to use the park in winter for physical health and wellbeing.