Archived press release

Date Published: 19/06/06

Aylesbury’s Vale Park is set to receive a major facelift, with work on new play and sports facilities starting this summer. A new sports zone will be built at the park, which will include a new bowling green, tennis courts and a multi-use g...

Aylesbury’s Vale Park is set to receive a major facelift, with work on new play and sports facilities starting this summer.

A new sports zone will be built at the park, which will include a new bowling green, tennis courts and a multi-use games area for a variety of sports including football and basketball. New state-of-the-art teenage play equipment and a sheltered seating area will also be installed next to the existing skate park.

Other planned works include installing a ramp suitable for wheelchair users to connect the new bowling green to the Aqua Vale complex. This will create a new entrance to the complex to allow people to access the cafe, toilet and changing facilities within the centre.

Work starts in July on the new play and sports facilities and the £500,000 project is expected to be completed by the end of October.

The work will mean certain areas of the park will need to be fenced off for people’s safety but there will be signs directing members of the public at key points.

Park users and local people were fully consulted on the proposals for Vale Park and were given the opportunity to put forward their ideas and thoughts on what should be included in the redevelopment project. One of the suggestions made by park users was to use real grass instead of an artificial surface for the new bowling green, which is now being installed.

The improvements to Vale Park are being made thanks to a £1 million grant from the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG), which is being used to upgrade the district’s parks and open spaces. This comes after the £480,000 the council received from the DCLG in 2004-2006, which funded new children’s and teenage play areas at Meadowcroft, Vale Park and the Coppice.

The grant will also fund the creation of more football kickabout areas, and bulbs and flowering trees will also be planted to make the Vale even more attractive. This will form part of the council’s winter programme of tree planting.

Councillor David Thompson, Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: “Vale Park is extremely popular, with a wide range of facilities already in place, but we want to improve the park further to allow more people to enjoy it. By improving access to the park and its facilities, we hope to encourage more people to visit one of the best locations in the district.

He added: “Inevitably there will be some disruption for park users during this time, which we’ll try to keep to a minimum – so please be patient while we make these improvements.”

Events in the park and facilities such as the play area and skate park will not be affected by the works. If you would like to find out more about the Vale Park improvements, please contact the council’s Green Spaces team on 01296 585228.