North Plymouth Community Park - Talk trees and trails with us at new park consultation.

Tree top trails spanning deep valleys and an education centre designed to inspire a love of the great outdoors could be part of the landscape in a new community park in the north of the city.

Residents living near Derriford are being asked for their thoughts on an exciting scheme that could link the three valleys of Bircham, Forder South and Forder West.

A drop-in event is being held on Tuesday 28 October at Windsor House for people to tell the us what they like as well as what they do not like about some of the ideas that are being put forward for a new community park covering 146 acres.

As well as ensuring that wildlife and plant life will be sensitively preserved in the area, the park includes a range of ideas designed to draw people in.

The treetop trail and walkways have been suggested to enable people living nearby to walk or cycle across valleys that are difficult to cross.

Another key element is creating an environmental education centre or a ‘One Planet Living’ centre that could include a working farm, rare breeds farm and children’s play area, farm shop, café or restaurant, an exhibition gallery, and educational facilities.

Other ideas include community allotments and orchards with the possibility of the park being home to ‘the garden of Plymouth’ offering produce for sale as well as enabling other recreational activities to take place.

Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Growth, Ted Fry said: “It is not often that people get the chance to tell us what they want to see when they go walking in the woods. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for people to shape what will be on their doorsteps.

“Plymouth as a city is lucky to have lots of green space but it is not always as easy to reach. We are all more aware of the importance of being healthy and the need to protect the environment and this is a project that has got huge potential.”

The creation of a park would help Plymouth achieve its goals of being healthy, wealthy, safe and strong and wise.

As well as encouraging people outdoors to walk, cycle and play, the park could play a role in teaching all ages about the environment, conservation, gardening and farming.

The ideas are contained within the North Plymouth Community Park Feasibility Study, which has been put together by LDA Design with the City Council. The study also suggests a social enterprise organisation could be established to manage the community park.

The area covered by the proposal contains scores of interesting features including:

• 19^th century paper mill sites of Bircham Cottage and Bircham Mill
• Saxon and mediaeval archaeology near Coleridge Farm
• species such as badgers, bats, roe deer and slow worms
• sheep and cattle grazing
• a stretch of the Co-operative Way running through Bircham Valley into Lower Valley
• The Tamar Valley Discovery Way which passes through the park site.

The event will run from 10am to 4pm at Windsor House in the foyer area. Families are welcome and we will be having special fun sessions to encourage children to have their say as well.

North Plymouth Community Park Feasibility Study 2007

This report has been commissioned to inform the council of the feasibility of creating a new community park on land in the Bircham and Forder Valleys in northern Plymouth. Plymouth City Council will be involving a wide range of partners and local communities as part of this. However at this very early stage we would just like your initial reaction to the feasibility study and the ideas in general. You can do this by adding your comments to the North Plymouth Community Park discussion forum or by writing to the contact address displayed on this page.

Documents

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North Plymouth Community Park study November 2007 - a study into the feasibility of creating a new community park in northern Plymouth as part of proposals being developed for Derriford and Seaton Area Action Plan. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 824KB