Ground Breaking Work!

In October  2010 Groundwork London (GWL) was commissioned by Ascham Homes to deliver community consultation to open spaces on  Tenby Court, Tenby Road, Waltham Forest. The community

consultation involved local residents of the Tenby Court in identifying the kind of improvements that they would like to see in open spaces. 

  

Groundwork London engaged residents in the initial consultation through two days of door knocking and a consultation event to capture responses and ideas for improvements to the open spaces. 59.67 % of the residents responded to the surveys. Questionnaires with Freepost envelope were dropped in houses where there were ‘no shows’’. 

  

Tenby Court consists 117 properties with a mixture of social renting and privately owned. The estate outdoor spaces are in need of improvements with resident involvement in the decision making process. 

In addition to improve response rates GWL held a consultation event on the 13th November 2010 at Tenby Court  in which 10 adults and 12 children  attended. This allowed for richer data to be

collected as well as additional surveys to be completed. In total 59.67% of residents responded to the surveys through both events.

Some of the questions and feedback Included:

  

1) What, if anything, do you like about the open space on the estate?

Comments included;

• Planting:  I like the gardens downstairs (2),
• I grow plants and vegetables,
• The trees are beautiful and they attract birds.
• There is something I like about the architecture.
• I like the way that some people are using the spaces to grow plants and vegetables.
• Nice flower beds and rose bushes.
• More trees needed to absorb noise.
• Open Space: Its big and open space ( 6 ),
• it’s a good area(3), 
• Socialising: Mixing and chatting with neighbours (3)
• Children’s play: Children’s play area(9) 

  

2) What, if anything, do you dislike about the open space on the estate?

Comments included;

• Planting:  trees vandalised and died, not enough plants or flowers, 
• Open Space: Poorly maintained, children play ball games and people do not pick dog poo, people leaving rubbish in the corridors, untidy(2), eye sore(2), used as a dogs toilet, space taken over by young children and cars, there’s nothing on the open spaces (13)
• Children’s play: No play for children(8), noisy children while playing ball games, children play  late, gangs around the area use the court to smoke drugs and drinks, 
• Anti Social: People ringing bell for fun. 

  

3) What would you change about open space on the estate if you could?

Comments included;

• Planting:  colourful flowers, plant noise absorbing trees on the grass verges, 
• Open Space:  seating benches(2), communal garden with colourful planting(3) , cleaner space, better maintenance, extend the car parking to the court, a communal hall, needs cleaning, place doors on rubbish bin rooms, secure open areas, improve entrance to court, 
• Children’s play: special play area for children (3), refurbish the recreation areas at the back of court for young kids,  football cage, slide for kids, 

The activities in the community engagement event that was organised on 13th November 2010 from 11 am to 2 pm at Tenby Court included:
 

• Pot painting and bulb planting by children,
• Adults interacting with staff from Groundwork London and Ascham Homes on future improvements.
• Two local Councillors Clare Coghill and Liaquat Ali attended the event and planted bulbs along with children on the raised beds. 10 children and 12 adults participated in the event.

In Conclusion
 

From the survey we can conclude that less than a quarter of residents don’t utilise the open space and some use it to dry clothes on the back side of the court.

More than half of the residents use it for socialising, letting their children play and sit and relax. 

Residents like the openness, gardens, trees and let their children enjoy playing on the open spaces, however, less than a quarter of residents didn’t like the quality of the open space. 

Residents would like to further their use of the open space by creating a communal garden in the centre for relaxation and fruit and food growing , colourful planting in the flower beds, refurbish the former youth play areas and improved access to the courts and tidier bins arrangements. 

  

Residents are in favour on having a central garden with colourful plants and seating for relaxation instead of a junior play area in central courtyard which results in noise and disturbances. However, they

are of the opinion that if the former play areas in backside of the court are refurbished for older children, then the adjacent open space could be used as a junior play area. 

  

The findings of the initial consultation will be fed into a master plan for Tenby Court by GWL’s landscape architects.