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Social Audit... Research Findings - Recreational Facilities |
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2.4
Recreational Facilities.
The
research results clearly indicate that the provision of social and
recreational facilities is a major issue for residents of the Cwmparc,
Treorchy, and Ynyswen area. Results from the questionnaire survey show
that the reported lack of these facilities was ranked as the second
biggest problem affecting the area and ranked third in the things that
residents liked least about their area. Moreover as can be seen in table
8, slightly over half (54%) of respondents described the general provision
of recreational facilities in their area as being either poor or very
poor. Table
8: Proportion of sample describing recreational facilities as excellent,
good or acceptable (%).
Provision
of recreational facilities for young people back
return to top of page The
greatest levels of concern were expressed about the provision of
recreational facilities for young people - nearly three quarters of
respondents (73%) described young peoples recreational facilities as being
either “poor” or “very poor”. Moreover, as is described in section
3.3, this issue was viewed as being a major root cause of some of the
problems which young people presented in their community. Concern about
the provision of facilities for young people was also apparent in
qualitative aspects of the research:
“the
community would benefit from things for young people” “the
community would benefit if young people and little children had something
to do” “we
need to make better, clean facilities for children”
Although
concern was expressed about the lack of recreational facilities for young
people generally there was particular concern about the lack of provision
for the youngest children who, for a number of reasons, were not able to
make regular use of parks in their area:
“provision
of parks in this area for little children is pathetic…….we need a play
area specifically for little children” “it
is dangerous for young children because surrounding the park are roads you
have to cross to get there”
A
number of respondents suggested establishing special zones for young
children in existing parks and/or creating new play areas for young
children in strategic locations:
“there is nothing in the Railway Terrace area…..children
have to cross the road to go to the park ….. we could turn a small part
of the ground into a play area for small children” “there
is nothing for really small children in the area …perhaps a safe area in
the park would be ideal” “there
is nothing for young children in the area …very difficult with the
maintenance once it is up …there may be problems with vandalism”
A
potential solution to problems of ongoing maintenance of newly developed
play areas may well be the use of designated key holders who have
responsibility for managing access and appropriate use of the play area.
This approach has been implemented by Rhondda Housing Association in the
Capel Farm development in Tonyrefail. Play zones are managed by designated
play zone volunteers who are rewarded for their efforts through a timebank
style scheme. However,
the major gap in provision which respondents identified was for the older
age groups in their mid to late teens (i.e. exactly the same age group who
were likely to be perceived as causing a nuisance by hanging around in
public spaces). For example, some respondents commented on this age groups
lack of opportunity to participate in organised sporting activities:
“there
is a big gap after 18 …there’s no organised sport if you are not on
the team…. The 14-17 year olds there is nothing for them” “we
need organised sport (football etc) for 18 and over young people”
However,
during focus groups with young people in this age group they were most
likely to complain about the lack of suitable venues that they could
legitimately use to socialise with their peers in an informal and
unstructured atmosphere:
“just
somewhere for us to go off the streets like …not just the park. Everyone
goes to the arch but its horrible there it stinks” “we need somewhere to go late at night when this place [Alison House] is shut ….just somewhere to meet up and that”
Conclusion 5: Although the general provision of recreational facilities is widely
considered to be inadequate this is particularly the case for the
provision of recreational facilities for young people. In particular,
there is a lack of safe and appropriate play areas for young children and
a lack of venues where young people in their mid to late teens can meet
and socialise with one another.
Recommendation 4: That priority is given to pursuing funding to expand the range and
quality of recreational facilities for young people. The precise nature of
these facilities should be negotiated through ongoing consultation with
local young people, and consideration should be given to the establishment
of bodies such as a young people’s forum through which young people can
make their voice heard.
Improvements Suggested By Young People back return to top of page Suggestions
received by the research team during focus groups and community visioning
events fell into two main categories. First, there were suggestions about
how existing facilities could be improved:
“I
would like to put big swings in Ynyswen park . I would like more flowers
and less stingy nettles” “I
will like to put big swings in Ynyswen park. I would like a netball
pitch” “I
would like to change Ynyswen park into a Jungle Jim” “Put
a football goal in Ynyswen Park. It doesn’t seem like many children use
the basket ball ring that is there”
Secondly
local young people had a wide range of suggestions about new facilities
and activities that they would like to see developed in the area. These
ranged from quite small scale and easily achievable activities (e.g. the
staging of young people’s discos in Alison House) to more major
undertakings (e.g. the construction of a leisure centre or swimming pool).
The entire range of these suggestions is included in the following list:
Swimming
pool - Skate
park
Gender
Disparities back
return to top of page A
number of different sources noted a significant gender imbalance in the
provision of recreational facilities for young people with young males
appearing to have a significantly greater range of recreational
opportunities open to them than young females. It was noted for example
that many of the sporting activities such as football or rugby teams were
male dominated and that young women simply didn’t have the opportunity
to take part in these activities. Equally, it was argued that the range of
activities on offer tended to be geared towards activities, such as
sports, which have traditionally been male dominated.
“there
is stuff for boys but not much stuff for girls” “it
would be good to have a girls football team around here and we can get a
manager quite easy”
Amongst
young females themselves the most frequently made observation of this
disparity related to the lack of public toilets which they could
legitimately make use of in contrast to males who could use a number of
different urinals. A number of young females reported occasions where they
had resorted to using the male urinals. This issue is amply illustrated by
an exchange which took place between a young boy and a young girl during
one of the focus groups:
boy:
“I feel sorry for the girls ...the boys can go to the toilet [using
the public urinals] but the girls have to go home” girl:
“I’ve got to be honest I’ve gone in the boys before now because
I’ve been busting”
Moreover,
it was notable that the use of the local environment as a recreational
amenity (eg for camping trips etc - see section 2.8) was dominated by
young males. Whilst various activities in the mountains constituted a
major topic in their accounts of what they liked doing in the area the use
of the local mountains was wholly absent from young females accounts of
what they liked to do in their area.
Area Disparities back return to top of page
The
disparity in the range of recreational activities between Cwmparc,
Treorchy and Ynyswen represents one of the key differences between the
three areas. Treorchy’s status as a local urban centre is reflected in
the much greater range of local amenities on offer (including a cinema,
outdoor swimming pool and rugby club). This distinctiveness was reflected
in results from focus groups and community visioning events. Young people
from Treorchy reported participating in a far greater range of activities
than young people in either Cwmparc or Ynyswen. For example, a group of
11-13 year old males in Treorchy reported that their area was “all
right.....there are lots of shops and lots of stuff to do”. However,
older age groups in Treorchy tended to express less positive views and
instead their complaints echoed older young peoples complaints in Cwmparc
and Ynyswen about the lack of venues where they could socialise with one
another ,other than the youth centre which was only open on certain
evenings and which was closed during school holidays.
In
Cwmparc youth provision had recently been subject to a major expansion
following the opening of “the youth” at Alison House - a resource that
was viewed in very positive terms by the young people who were interviewed
there. However, this resource is still very much in its infancy and is in
need of a greater range of resources and ongoing development. Provision
is lowest in Ynyswen where it is limited to a minimally equipped
children's’ playground near the industrial estate. There is a
willingness to host youth activity nights in the Ynyswen Welfare Hall but
this has proved impossible through a lack of volunteer support from within
the local community. Significantly, Ynyswen generated most reports of
nuisance behaviour by children and young people.
Conclusion 6: There are notable disparities in the provision of recreational
facilities between the three areas and also between males and females with
much provision- particularly in sporting activities - being male
dominated. Recommendation
5 That
the Regeneration Group review current provision and work with potential
partners to improve facilities in the locality particularly to improve the
level of youth provision, its distribution and its ability to meet the
needs of females.
Existing Community Facilities back return to top of page Owing
to the relatively large number of community facilities such as local
churches, the Parc and Dare, Boys Club and Rugby club it is not possible
for this report to provide an in-depth analysis of all community
facilities in the area. Instead this section which is based on interviews
with key personnel and the results of the facilities audit comments on the
use patterns, suitability and ongoing development potential of three
buildings whose primary function is to provide a venue for a range of
community based activities. These buildings are as follows:
The
selection was made so as to include buildings from each of the three
constituent areas in the ward of Treorchy. Additionally, this section also includes treorchy.net a
resource which although maybe not a community facility in the traditional
sense of providing a physical venue could, as is discussed below, be able
to play a key role in the area’s regeneration. It should also be noted
that the facilities audit made use of a number of earlier studies of
facilities and in particular recommended that the group should revisit: “Abergorki
Hall: Renovation for a renewed community activity centre” Community
Design Service 1996 “Ynyswen
Welfare Institute: A feasibility study for renovation, alteration,
improved access and outdoor activity space”
Abergorki
Hall This is a long
standing community resource which started its life as a cinema,dance hall
and library in the early part of the 20th Century and later became used as
a base for community businesses and community groups during the 1970s. It
is a widely used resource with well developed links to the local community
having between four and five hundred members and reportedly thousands of
‘user hits’ per week. The hall currently hosts a diverse range of long
established clubs and activities, some of which are nationally and
internationally renowned. These include the following:
However, the building is in an exceptionally poor state of repair with a crumbling outer fabric, no central heating and a damp problem severe enough to prevent it from operating childcare facilities. Additionally, parking spaces are extremely limited and access to the building for elderly and disabled individuals is very poor. The problems with the fabric are such that the hall’s committee is currently advocating a major rebuild of the building (see “Abergorki Hall: Build The Dream” for further details). This process is described in being in its penultimate phase but reaching the final phase requires securing funding of approximately five million pounds.
Parc Hall, Allison House and 205 Parc Road back return to top of page Having
started from Parc Hall the Cwm Parc Community Welfare Association has
radically expanded its premises within the previous year to eighteen
months and now manages nearby Allison Houses as a youth centre and is
currently refurbishing 205 Parc road for use as a training suite. From
these premises an extensive range of community facilities are provided
which include a cafe, adult education classes, a computer room, theatre,
meithrin and mother and toddlers group, together with the youth facilities
of Allison House. Additionally there are plans for imminent future
developments of such facilities as an after school club and drop-in centre
for unemployed 16-20 year olds, together with a plethora of ideas for the
longer term development. The buildings also play host to a wide range of
adult education activities which are fully listed in appendix 1.
The
expansion of facilities and activities in Cwmparc is indicative of a
thriving and dynamic community resource. However, its ongoing development
has generated a number of operational problems and exposed problems
inherent in the original design of the buildings. For example, the
facilities audit (appendix 1) commented on the following problems with the
physical fabric and layout:
The
facilities audit recommends examining the feasibility of an area of
‘no-mans’ land between Allison House to assess its suitability for use
as a car park, pedestrian linkage to Parc Hall and adventure playground.
Such a development might well increase the degree of financial
sustainability of these resources but would initially require significant
funding. However, obtaining funding was reported to be one of the key
barriers to these resource's future sustainability and ongoing
development. The expansion in activities is felt have stretched the
organization’s capacity to deal with the daily management of the
facilities and as such there was a specific reported need for a new staff
member with responsibility for identifying funding streams and preparing
funding bids. Ynyswen Welfare Hall back return to top of page Ynyswen Welfare Hall is currently under the management of a new committee following the threat of closure due to financial difficulties two years ago – a prospect which occasioned a well attended public meeting. The hall is currently used for a range of activities which include church meetings, dance classes, aikido classes, dog training classes, a senior citizens group, local band practise and other social events. However, there is little involvement in these activities from the immediate community of Ynyswen and the majority of the halls user groups are reported to be from other parts of the Rhondda. Additionally, there is a particular issue with young people causing annoyance to the hall’s users and vandalism to its physical fabric. The costs of repairing broken windows and installing protective mesh has been several thousand pounds. Such costs are likely to be incurred again if the underlying causes of these problems are not addressed. These underlying causes of youth annoyance in the area are
widely believed to be related to the lack of children's play areas and
structured youth activities in the area - a view that is supported by the
findings of all the various strands of this research. These are clearly
issues which the Ynyswen Welfare Hall could play a key role in addressing.
For example, the hall’s committee were enthusiastic about the idea of
hosting youth activity nights in the hall itself. Equally, the facilities
audit notes the under-utilisation of the outdoor area and comments on
it’s suitability for use as a children’s play area. However,
the two main barriers to this appear to be the lack of community
involvement in the hall and funding difficulties. Although it is reported
that local residents are willing to make financial contributions towards
the upkeep of the hall there is an apparent reluctance to becoming
involved in supervising its activities. This factor alone prevents the
establishment of youth activity nights. The funding issue relates not just
to the construction costs of a children’s play area but to a range of
upgrades to the halls use value and appearance. These are:
Treorchy.Net Treorchy.net
is an innovative and dynamic community led resource of a type that has not
previously been encountered in any of the social audits conducted by the
PCR. As its name suggests it
is a website that focuses on the Treorchy area and is run by members of
the local community. Its current content includes:
The
website operators also publish and distribute a quarterly community
newsletter to every household in the area and are hoping to expand this to
cover the entire upper Rhondda. The newsletter content is made up of an
edited selection of the website content and functions both as a community
newsletter in its own right and as a means of promoting use of the website
by the community. There
are a number of obvious ways in which treorchy.net has the potential to
play a critical role in the development of an area regeneration strategy:
However,
the website is on a precarious financial and operational footing. At
present it is wholly dependent upon the efforts of volunteers and is
financed through a combination of their own contributions and the sale of
advertising space in the community newsletter (which does not even cover
the newsletter’s printing and distribution costs). The website operators
estimate they would need to obtain funding of approximately £40,000 for
the websites ongoing operation and development but are uncertain about
where they can obtain these funds from or how they should go about it.
Conclusion 7: Although there are major differences between these key community
facilities in terms of the phase of their development, their utilization
by the local community and the activities and services that they provide
they share common problems with funding difficulties.
Recommendation 6: That the Regeneration Group seek to secure funding for a worker with a
specific remit of identifying potential funding streams, preparing and
contributing to funding bids for projects which the group identify. *
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