The Community Park is a partnership project between Murrayburn & Hailesland Community Park Association (MHCPA) and South West Edible Estates (SWEE). Our intention is to develop the Greenway, (the large greenspace between Murrayburn & Hailesland), into a high quality community greenspace which promotes play, recreation and the well-being of residents.
The Association was established in January 2017 to provide a forum for residents passionate about improving the local area (MHCPA Facebook Page). We have started with the development of the Neighbourhood Garden, our next goal is to establish an Adventure Playground next door.
MHCPA & SWEE have been delivering Natural Play outdoor play sessions for local children since 2017. In 2018, SWEE installed a pop-up Community Cafe in a shipping container as a base of operations in Murrayburn & Hailesland whilst we established the Neighbourhood Garden.
Community Park Study
In 2019, MHCPA received a grant from Scottish Governments Making Places fund to develop designs for the Greenway as a Community Park. MHCPA commissioned The City of Play to carry out a study. You can see images of the play design sessions below including the pop-up prototype play structure built next to the neighbourhood garden. Following a Covid related delay, we are now able to publish the report in February 2020.
You can download the report here – Murrayburn & Hailesland Community Park Study (5.9Mb)
The study includes designs for a large ‘Venchie’ style adventure playground to be installed alongside the Neighbourhood Garden where the pop-up play structure is now (see image below), a new Community Hub on the large slabbed area, and smaller ‘play dens’ dotted around the Greenway.
The next step is to discuss these ideas further with the Council and to develop the designs of the play structures to ensure that pass ROSPA’s safety tests. Our hope is that we can raise the necessary funding, get the permissions and start on construction in 2022. In the meantime, MHCPA and SWEE are going to look at restarting the Natural Play sessions at Murrayburn & Hailesland as soon as the Covid restrictions are lifted.
Local ResidentPreviously most of the local kids didn't give me the time of day but now they always stop to say hello and interact with my daughter which is a really nice change.
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