IDEAS are being sown for the future of Christchurch Gardens in Leamington.
Four consultation events were held with key stakeholders and members of the public as a master plan for the future of the gardens at the top of the Parade continues to germinate.
Over 200 participants who attended the consultation events were asked to choose which ideas put forward by The Friends of Christchurch Gardens were “hot or not”.
Visitors to the four events were each given ten red (hot) dots and ten blue (not) dots and voted with their dots on the ideas that they most or least liked.
Of the three approaches to the master plan which were put forward, making minor tweaks and improvements was definitely a “hot” idea. The other ideas were developing a traditional garden square with well-defined boundaries and integrating the gardens with the Parade.
Participants were also asked to consider four themes for improving the gardens. The “Garden for all” theme was the most popular by far, followed by “natural environment”.
Chair of the Friends group, Alison Chantrey, said: “We are so grateful for the engagement of local people in this exercise. It’s been wonderful to discuss potential ideas with so many and to hear that the Friends’ enthusiasm for the gardens is so strongly shared. “Inevitably there are opposing views, but this consultation has been structured to discover where the balance of support lies. We are very excited to see how the master plan will now develop.”
Based on the findings of the consultation, over the next few months the Friends will meet with members of Leamington Transformation Board, Warwick District Council and Warwickshire County Council to discuss options for the master plan and will share the proposals with members of the public in due course.
There will be a further opportunity to provide feedback at this stage before the plan is finalised.
The full report of the project to date is available at https://leamingtonsociety.org/friends/friends-of-christchurch-gardens/
