Ballaughton Adventure Playground Access Statement

Borough Engineer & Surveyor's Department Proposed Ballaughton Adventure Playground ACCESS STATEMENT

October 2017

Ballaughton Adventure Playground – Access Statement

Introduction and background

The proposed development is to provide an extension to the existing Ballaughton Recreation Ground which will include direct extension of the filed area into amenity or formal recreational space and to create a separate adventure playground in partnership with the Children's Centre (Isle of Man).

Part of the proposal is to provide car parking or drop off area for users of the adventure playground.

The land designation is currently open space and the application site is shown on the plan in Appendix A.

Main Operating times for Ballaughton Nursery's staff

The main working hours for the nursery staff is 08:00 - 16:00 Monday - Thursday and 08:00 - 15:30 Friday.

Opening times of the adventure playground

The adventure playground will be managed by the Children's Centre with 2 play workers on site when it is open. The proposed opening times are:

• Term Time: Weekdays 16:15 - 18:00 (this will likely change through the winter during dark evenings)
• School Holidays: Weekdays 10:00am - 12:00then 14:00 - 16:15pm
• Bank holidays (closed)

Number of children

The number accessing the playground will vary but we anticipate no more than 60 children at any one time. However, this may be higher during the early stages of the project as interest will inevitably be peeked.

Mode of access to the Adventure Playground

The proposed playground is to facilitate the lack of play provision in the local area and it is anticipated that after an initial influx of children the area will be used by predominantly local children, it is therefore anticipated that the preferred mode of access will be, in order:

• Walking to site - pedestrian access points are shown on the plan in Appendix A
• Cycling to site - whilst there are no designated cycle routes to the site it is likely that roadways and pedestrian routes will be the cyclists preferred route - Roadways are shown on the plan in Appendix A
• By vehicle - provision for car parking is in the proposal and shown in the plan in Appendix A, however this is primarily seen as a drop off area, it is unlikely that parents will want to stay at the supervised playground and will prefer to drop them off. Vehicle access points are shown in Appendix A.

Children at local schools will be encouraged to walk or cycle to the playground using the safest possible pedestrianised routes. (Once inside the playground there will be an area for bikes/scooters to be stored.) In order to achieve this The Children's Centre will deliver assemblies within schools and send literature home to parents.

All press releases and associated web promotion will highlight most convenient bus routes to the park for children travelling from further-a-field.

Finger post signage will be installed at the entrance points to the park and in the car park large detailed signage showing access points.

Car Park

The car park will be constructed from stone. Bushes and trees adjacent to the entrance will be cut back to improve visibility splays. The car park will accommodate a minimum of 10 vehicles. The car park will be used primarily as a drop off point for the adventure playground.

Traffic survey

A traffic survey was completed in July 2017. The results are shown in Appendix B.

Appendix A

Drawings.

• E\&R.17.007.1001 Location Plan
• E\&R.17.007.2001 Access Statement Drawing