The Play Zone officially opens at Sherwood Avenue Play Park

The Play Zone is the perfect town centre spot for children to enjoy the outdoors and has been designed with creative play and fun in mind, including ten pieces of accessible play equipment.

The park also takes parents into consideration who are now able to relax in seated areas with a full view of the play area to keep an eye out as their family enjoy the park.

Councillor Emma Oldham, Portfolio Holder for Biodiversity and Environmental Services at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “I am absolutely delighted that the Play Zone at Sherwood Avenue Play Park is open for children to enjoy and that our team at Newark and Sherwood District Council have been able to deliver this exciting new family-friendly area in time to enjoy for the last few weeks of the summer holidays.

“As a parent myself, I know how important these areas are for families to enjoy themselves safely, for free, outdoors and amongst nature – not just during the school holidays but year-round. I know this will be such a vibrant, well-loved asset to our community.

“We know that this park desperately needed some TLC and I am delighted we have provided and secured funding to support Newark Town Council in redeveloping their beautiful park. The play zone is just phase one of this fantastic development with lots more to come including a new skate park, splash zone and nature area. I am convinced that the short-term closure of the park to facilitate the contractor’s schedules will far outweigh the fantastic benefits it will bring to our residents, both current and future. I can’t wait to see the next phases of the park’s development come to fruition over the next few months too!”

The rest of the park will continue to remain closed while work on the rest of the redevelopment takes place including a new Welcome Area, Active Zone and Nature Zone takes place.

As part of the Welcome Area, visitors will be greeted at the park via new and improved entrances, one for pedestrian park visitors and another for vehicle access when required. There will also be an outdoor vendor area in this zone, for local traders.

Fun and fitness for all ages and abilities is at the heart of the new Active Zone. It will feature:

• A brand new, state of the art skate park in the site’s old lido. Plans for this have been developed with the help of local skate groups.
• A skate park rest area
• A multi-use sports pitch
• A free ride area for biking and skating
• A fitness trail with a selection of outdoor exercise equipment
• A spiralling grass staircase-like trail for visitors to walk up and view across the park, with a mounted plaque to show the direction and distances to local sites such as Newark Castle.

A Silver Birch avenue will lead park visitors into the new Nature Zone along a wheelchair-friendly path made from recycled materials such as brick, slate, wood and gravel. Visitors will be able to enjoy nature, peacefully tucked away on a bench or with friends on the recycled tree log seating areas.

This area has been designed with biodiversity and wildlife at the heart of the plans, with new habitat areas such as log piles, insect houses, bat boxes and hedgehog hides. An extensive planting programme will also take place to benefit pollinators and foraging wildlife including the creation of 500 square meters of wildflower meadow and the planting of 40 new trees, 250m of hedgerow, 5000 bulbs and a fruit bearing orchard.

Councillor Oldham concludes: “This is such an exciting project that will be brimming with life and reinvigorate this part of our town, which is very important to urban residents. The brand-new planting is really exciting and will make the park a jewel in the town centre; I can’t wait to see it!”

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “I am delighted that phase one of the works are now complete and look forward to the safe and welcoming environment the park will bring to our residents. The improved CCTV offer at the park is a huge benefit and hopefully will further ensure residents feel safer in our town centre.”

Councillor Dawn Campbell, Leader of the Town Council, said: “It's absolutely fantastic to see so many children of all ages playing together. It’s going to be really well used and I’m so glad we’ve done it. This wonderful space is free to the community and that’s what Council Tax is all about really. This multi-use space has been really well-planned to accommodate all sorts of age groups which has been very important and it will be so nice to see the wildflower and water area for children to play in too, along with the new skate park which skaters and wheelers have all been involved in, with their fantastic contributions really being taken into account.”

The plans to reinvigorate the site were developed using the results of the consultation and feedback shared by residents, local community groups and schools, and the District Council and Newark Town Council have worked closely to ensure these ideas were captured in the plans. The redevelopment is also part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with £250,000 contributed towards the project.