FAQs
How will you tackle anti-social behaviour on the proposed site?
We understand that anti-social behaviour may be a concern for residents. We already work with team's who have knowledge of the area such as the Neighbourhood and Estates team, Parks and Countryside and the TARA and community policing, to decrease the chances of anti-social behaviour. The feedback from these team's goes to the council’s design team who bring their own experience from projects across the city.
A key part of the Masterplan is to create better opportunities for young people to play, live, go to school, and plan a future in Gleadless Valley. As part of this we should be creating spaces for young people that are both interesting and safe. Our design approach aims to use thoughtful design features to reduce the potential of behaviour to turn antisocial.
Reducing the potential for ASB by place
The main way of reducing ASB behaviour is through choosing the right place. This means making spaces that are in view of nearby houses or are close to places people pass by. Also by making spaces that are open, have good lighting and are used by lots of people in the area.
Reducing the potential for ASB by design
The Council has created similar green spaces across the city, for example at Manor Fields or Sharrow, so we have ample experience in choosing sites and understanding what works and what doesn't. We have used design features that we know work, in the plan for Spotswood. For example, we are proposing to create strong stone walls at key points stop to motorcycles and cars and naturalistic play features such as trial paths for children to follow, which are hard to damage.
The choice of space and design will can reduce the potential for antisocial behaviour.
Why is money being spent on a green space right now instead of on housing?
The aim of the Gleadless Valley Masterplan is to make Gleadless an even better place to live. The Masterplan is divided into 4 strategies and these strategies aim to make people’s lives healthier and happier. Research has shown there are 8 key areas that impact the social determinants of health, people who live in less deprived areas have better access to these 8 areas than people living in more deprived areas. As we can see from the infographic poster below, housing is one of these areas and is important to our mental and physical wellbeing.
However, housing alone will not make people happier or healthier, we need to ensure that we focus on improving other areas which will support wellbeing too. For example, having clean air or parks for children to play in matter, as does having good connections with family, friends and the people living around you. It is important as part of the regeneration that we make spaces for people to play and meet. The regeneration team are currently putting a plan together on the best way to improve housing in Gleadless Valley as well as working on many other areas such as education, employment and green spaces.
Who are you consulting with?
We are looking to consult with a wide range of people in Gleadless Valley. This includes people of all age groups, especially younger people and we are promoting the survey through schools. It is very important that we hear the voices of people living close to the proposed site, to do this we have posted these households a paper copy of the survey. We are also asking local organisations (TARA, Gleadless Valley Wildlife Trust, Heeley Trust etc) for their thoughts.
We are keen that we get the widest range of voices possible so we have online surveys, paper-based surveys and in-person events where people can chat to us.
Who, in future, will hold events on the site?
We want to see the space used for community events. We would like organisations such as the TARA, Gleadless Valley Wildlife Trust, Heeley Trust etc. to think about how they can use the space. We would also encourage local schools to use the space as an outdoor classroom to learn about the history and wildlife of Gleadless Valley. Also, as a Council, different departments might like to use the space for community events. For example, the Regeneration Team, the Youth Service team or the Parks and Countryside Department.
When will development of Spotswood Greenspace start?
We are at the early stages of this project. At the end of the 6-week consultation period we will review the feedback with the design team. After this we draw up more detailed plans and then go through the planning process before looking to appoint a contractor to begin work on site.