Parks Services values the feedback that it receives from its customers, by providing a wide variety of opportunities for you to have your say

Parks & Green Spaces Mid-term Strategy Review 2009

The results are now available for the Parks and Green Spaces Strategy Review 2009.  Chelmsford Borough Council would like to thank everyone who participated in the consultation. 

Please use the hyperlinks below to go directly to the relevant section.

1. Background and reasons for conducting the consultation 
2. Consultation objectives 
3. Consultation methods, promotion and distribution
4. Respondents profile 
5. Findings  
6. Summary 
7. What happens now

1. Background and reasons for conducting the consultation

Following a Parks Services consultation exercise in 2004 to engage Chelmsford Residents in the prioritisation key strategic aims, a Parks and Green Spaces Strategy document (2004 – 2014) was produced.

It focused on the key actions needed to provide an excellent customer experience:

• Meet the needs of local people
• Improve the quality of the parks and gardens managed by Parks Services
• Increase visitor numbers.

Results from the 2004 consultation ranked the priorities as follows:

1. Improvement of existing/creation of new Parks & Green Spaces 50%.
2. Community involvement in Parks and Green Spaces 34.4%.
3. Enhancing the natural environment of Parks and Green Spaces 15.6%.

After 5 years a mid term review was due and as a result people were consulted between September 2009 and December 2009.

2. Consultation Objectives 

1. To identify 2010 Strategy priorities
2. To understand how well visitors think the Council manage biodiversity
3. To understand 'motivates' people to visit parks and gardens within the borough
4. To understand what barriers prevent people from visiting parks and gardens

3. Consultation Methods, Promotion and Distribution

During the consultation qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted via self - completion hard copies and online surveys.

The communication campaign to promote the consultation involved direct mail, press releases, advertisements, website editorial, posters and flyers.

As the forms were distributed 'simple random sampling' occurred naturally due to the availability of participants

4. Respondents Profile

Overall 219 valid responses were received, compared with 49 in 2004. This represents a good snapshot of views; but cannot be classed as totally 'statistically representative' of the views of Chelmsford Borough residents.

Based on the findings respondents were primarily:

• White British
• 51+
• Female

5. Findings

The results are laid out in the same order as the survey questionnaire.

Question 1

"Below are three statements – please rate 1= most important to 3 = least important"

Comparing 2004 to 2009

In 2004 "The creation of new parks and enhancing and improving existing parks" was ranked as the most important priority with 50% of respondents.

In 2009 the statement "Creating new parks" and "enhancing and improving existing" was split into two separate statements. See table 2 below. In 2009 "Enhancing and improving existing Parks & Green Spaces" was ranked as the most important priority with 52% of respondents.

Table 2 - results from question 1 comparing 2004 and 2009

Question 2

"Thinking about your local park, what single improvement would make you visit your park more?"

In 2009 the top three were:

1. Improved dog control measures 
2. More play equipment 
3. Safety and security

In 2004, the top three were:

1. Safety and security
2. Maintenance of grounds
3. Reduction of vandalism"

Question 3

"Thinking about biodiversity, how well do you think we manage this aspect? "

Following on from the 2004 consultation where respondents ranked "enhancing the natural environment of Parks and Green Spaces" as the third priority,

Question 3 in 2009 sought to understand residents' satisfaction levels for biodiversity management in Chelmsford's Parks, 72% of respondents indicated that management of biodiversity was either "good" or "very good".

6. Summary

The findings show that the majority of respondents want a continued focus on "enhancing and improving existing Parks and Green Spaces", with a reduction of focus on the need for "community involvement",

 7. What Happens Now

The information gained from this consultation and a body of evidence now accumulated from past research regarding barriers to usage and areas for improvement will inform management plans.

Some examples of areas for further investigation include:

• New interpretation boards at Admirals Park, Tower Gardens and West Park.
• Audit and action plan for Hylands directional signage
• Working in partnership with Great Baddow Parish Council to improve condition of Noaks Park ponds.

Nominate Your Favourite Park

Parks Services are very keen to find out how often you visit our Parks and Green Spaces, and how satisfied you are with the service and facilities provided: e.g. the staff, price, facilities and range of activities. The results will be treated confidentially and will be used to ensure that Parks Services continues to provide quality services that meet your needs and the needs of the local community. We are interested in your views and ideas on how to make your visits to Parks and Green Spaces within the Borough even better.

Nominate a Park

User Group Forums

Parks Services run a number of informal groups for both sport 'users' (twice a year) and 'hirers' (once a year); as part of a wider continuous market research programme that is run by Leisure & Cultural and Parks Services.  If you would be interested in joining one of the Parks Services user groups, please email: parksservices@chelmsford.gov.uk

To ensure that customers are informed on the progress of items discussed in these user groups, LCPS have created a 'Views into Action' newsletter.  This is available as a pdf download at the top of this page.

Comments, Compliments and Complaints

Chelmsford Borough Council welcomes feedback from its customers.  Should you wish to make a general enquiry or you have comments or suggestions about how we provide our services, or ideas as to how they might be developed in the future, please let us know. 

Our aim is to get things right first time but occasionally things can go wrong.  When this happens, we aim to correct matters as soon as possible and we will offer you an apology for failing to meet our planned performance standards.

The online Parks feedback form is available in the offsite links section to the right of this page.

Tell us what you think or our parks visit the GreenSTAT site and complete a survey for one of Chelmsford's parks GreenStat Survey

Chelmsford Borough Council carries out regular surveys of public opinion and satisfaction with its services.  To find out the results for the MORI Chelmsford Residents Surveys, use the link Market Research under 'related pages'