As you know, some of the projects that the Parish Council is trying to push through, such as trying to help sort the school crossing issues seen on Wareham Road, need the cooperation and agreement of Dorset Council, and end up with frustratingly extended timetables. Because of this, our Highway’s working group has been specifically set up to try and lobby the council and maintain pressure wherever we can.
By contrast, the Village Environment Working Group (VEWG) tackles projects that are generally within the Parish Council’s control. These focus on requests and ideas that can improve the appearance of the village or add small but beneficial infrastructure changes. The VEWG have several tasks on their list at the moment which include:
- Plans to improve the entrance to the Recreation Ground at Hannams Close. This will include rebuilding the bund to be a more permanent structure, improving the planting and adding a dedicated area for the bins that need to be placed there.
- Over by the Sports Pavilion we will be providing new storage containers between the Sports Pavilion and the Scout Hut. These will be used to house the goalposts when not being used and provide more general storage for those that use the buildings and the designs will also improve the front access to the premises. The ideas also include the construction of two outdoor table tennis areas which will add to the growing number of activities that are available up on the Rec.
- At Rocket Park the WG will be organising for the annual layer of additional bark chippings to be applied to try and counter the muddy ground. We know this may feel like a temporary solution, but, even over a ten-year timeframe, repeating this every year, will not be as expensive as paying for a fully weatherproofed surface.
- Village walks are important and therefore a further project is to de-bramble and improve the condition of the grassy verge alongside Huntick Road from Selby’s Yard to Jubilee Walk to make that stretch of the walk more useable so they do not need to walk on the road.
- In addition, we want to encourage more use of the Lytchett Astro (or Multi Use Games Area – MUGA) which is situated next to Lytchett Matravers Primary School. PE lessons are often taken on the MUGA, but it would be good to see if we can find a way for it to provide additional parking and a drop-off zone for the school.
If you have any ideas that you think could be looked at by the VEWG, or would be interested in joining them, please do get in touch.