HAVANT TO SHARE IN £9.6 MILLION FOR PARKS AND PUBLIC
SPACES IN THE SOUTH EAST - ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ODPM
Havant Borough Council has been selected
alongside two other local authorities in the South East to share
more than £9.6 million over three years to support Liveability Fund
pilot projects. Havant, alongside Medway Council and Spelthorne
Borough Council, will use the money to radically improve the state
of its parks and public spaces, the Deputy Prime Minister announced
today.
Havant, Medway and Spelthorne were selected
from among 64 bids from local authorities in the South East, and
are among 27 Liveability Fund pilots around the country.
The announcement of the successful local
authorities came as part of a wider package of measures to create
sustainable communities. The document 'Making it Happen' sets out
the progress on delivery made since the launch of the Deputy Prime
Minister's £22 billion 'Sustainable Communities - Building for the
Future', published last year.
Launching the document John Prescott
said:
"Regeneration has to be about more than just housing. We want
people to feel proud of the places where they live and be happy
with what they see when they open their front door to leave their
homes.
"For too long our parks and public spaces were left to decline
and the assets that our Victorian ancestors understood so well,
such as public gardens and town squares, were neglected. By
investing the largest amount of funding ever for liveability we
have begun to reverse this decline and today's announcement will
benefit communities in all regions of the country."
Visiting Havant today, Transport Minister Tony
McNulty said:
"The funding we have announced today will not only help to
create new parks and public spaces for the South East but will
hopefully improve the standard of the ones already out there -
showing people the difference clean, safe, well looked after spaces
can make to quality of life.
"Some great ideas have been put forward by the local
authorities in Havant. I want to see local communities benefiting
from the changes these plans will make to their local
environment."
The selected local authorities will be
responsible for driving up current standards as well as focussing
on new, well-designed parks and public spaces. One of the main aims
of the liveability fund is to ensure that local authorities are
better able to manage and maintain their parks and public spaces in
the future.
Dawn Baxendale, Director of Havant Borough
Councils Community Group, welcomed the news:
"We in Havant are delighted to be chosen as one of only three
pilots in the South East to be delivering the government's new
Liveability programme. With assistance from the programme we will
be developing and implementing a public spaces design framework and
delivering improvements to our key areas.
"Community involvement will be vital in developing the design
framework itself and applying it to projects. We expect this to
have a major impact on establishing an identity for the
borough."
The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)
will also work closely with the pilots around the country to
identify lessons and good practice that can be shared with other
local authorities across the country. The main tool for
communicating progress made by the pilots, lessons learned and the
difficulties encountered along the way will be via an interactive
website. Information will be added on a regular basis to the
liveability section of the IDeA Knowledge website - found at
www.knowledge@idea.gov.uk. The IDeA will also disseminate good
practice through a series of conferences and events.
Also published today is the report Living
Places: Caring for quality. This publication aims to help
local authorities think about the way their public space is managed
and to stimulate ideas through a range of innovative examples. The
report provides practical support to local authorities not only
through good case studies, but by identifying a range of principles
that help question existing practice and provide advice for moving
forward.
Notes for editors:
Havants pilot includes the following service
improvements:
- to develop an urban design framework which will set
borough-wide standards, and which will involve the development of a
public space and streetscape strategy;
- to integrate and co-ordinate grounds maintenance, cleansing,
engineering and vehicle maintenance operations, coupled with the
piloting of a 'zoned' approach to service delivery;
- to reform out of hours staffing in parks and open spaces to
improve safety and combat anti-social behaviour;
- to reform children's playground provision, inspection and
maintenance regimes;
- to expand private investment in council infrastructure, such as
roundabouts, gateway landmarks and traffic islands; and
- to bring together conservation agencies, 'Friends' groups,
volunteers etc to create an environmental forum which can be better
co-ordinated and supported
- to undertake improvements to Havant town centre;
- to undertake improvements to Havant Park, Leigh Park and
Waterlooville Recreation Ground;
- to undertake improvements to the Beachlands sea front;
- to undertake improvements to the Broadmarsh industrial
estate;
- to undertake improvements to local shopping parades; and
- to install new street lighting and plant trees at the borough's
gateway sites.