Public has role to playon district'sopen spaces

Mark Branagan

MORE cash could be on the way to help people enjoy the green lungs of the Selby area under a new study announced yesterday of leisure and recreation facilities.

Council bosses want to find out how its community open spaces measure up as part of a process aimed at attracting more funding. The review will examine the quantity, type and quality of open spaces across the district.

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The aim is twofold: to help attract new funding to further improve leisure amenities, and to inform planning policies which are used to decide on developers’ contributions to new open spaces.

But council officials say they are counting on residents to play their part. Many recreational spaces, play parks and sports pitches are already well documented.

But the study also seeks to list all open spaces used by people living in the area for recreation, such as allotment gardens, picnic spots and popular dog walking routes.

Any place where people go to spend their free-time, whether outdoors or indoors, needs to be included in this survey, according to Coun Gillian Ivey, who chairs the council’s Social Board.

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She said: “This is the first time such a survey has been done on this level. We’ll be able to see where there are deficiencies in facilities, perhaps where facilities are failing to meet people’s needs, but also importantly where we can see the best in the district so that others can work towards that standard.

“As such this work helps the council’s long-term goals of supporting healthier communities and protecting the environment.

“Secondly, by mixing the findings with information and data from sporting organisations and government agencies such as Sport England, we will be able to build up a case to support applications for funding for new or improved facilities.”

You can have your say online: www.selby.gov.uk/OpenSpacesSurvey2010. Paper copies of the questionnaire are available from the council’s Access Selby office, Market Cross, Selby. The deadline for responses is October 8.