Project type: Community Safety & Anti Social Behaviour
Client: Stafford Borough Council
The negative activity and subsequent notoriety in the press led to partnership working to find positive solutions for the problems this idyllic village was enduring.
The village of Yarnfield lies to the north of Stafford and was traditionally a rural village with most of its inhabitants being employed on the land or in related businesses.
The original village was made up of farms, farm worker cottages, a High Street with a Mission Hall and public buildings such as the school, church hall and public house.
Towards the end of the last Century, the village became a much more residential area and many new houses and housing estates were built to accommodate the changing and growing population, particularly due to the building of the extremely large British Telecom training centre that has residential and leisure facilities along with training rooms and work related facilities. The village of Yarnfield still remains a rural economy with residents employed at the local Telecommunications Training Centre, but also has many residents that commute to work.
An initial meeting was convened with the Stafford Borough Council, the Community Council of Staffordshire, Staffordshire Police and the Youth Service.
This meeting ascertained the areas to be covered and timescale for the consultation. The brief included an introduction to Planning for Real and some training for members of the Steering Group.
The first stage was to make a large-scale 3D map of the area and run several "Planning for Real®" events during early Summer of 2005. The second and third stages – the Prioritisation stage and the Action Planning stage were run later in the summer. The final stage was to combine all the results into one report that would then be fed into the overall Ward Action Plan.
The Foundation's Consultant was made aware of and familiar with the village and surrounding areas through a verbal report on the background of the area, given by the local Development Worker and the Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator.
It was obvious that there was a requirement for the Development Worker and local Partnership to contact: local Councillors, existing groups, the local youth worker, local shopkeepers and traders to ensure that they also understood the process, as its outcomes could impact on their business and thus their involvement was paramount.
The initial time-scale was to commence work in May 2005, complete the consultation processes and action planning stages within 4 months with the report being produced soon after. This timescale was a short one but needed some intense work for several reasons; the training of the steering group, making of the model, engaging of the community and booking / hiring of venues etc. takes time. The Association was fortunate to have very active Development Workers.
During the consultation events, many residents spoke about the lack of facilities in the area for young people and many felt this attributed to some of the problems of anti social behaviour that had occurred. Suggestions were made that a Youth Club was needed locally and the village hall, the school and at Yarnfield Park (BT Training Centre) were identified as potential sites where this could happen.
It was also highlighted that some youth support and counselling sessions could run alongside this type of facility. Additional suggestions were made about the need for a dedicated space for young people. Ideas were also put forward about developing a youth theatre and an arts and crafts club locally. One of the facilities that a number of neighbourhoods in many areas have recently had sited, aimed at young people, is ramps and half-pipes for skateboarding and rollerblading and this was reflected during the PfR consultation.
There are many young people in the area who enjoy BMX biking and many who have motorbikes / motor cross bikes with nowhere to ride them in the locality. Maybe facilities for mountain bikes and for motorbikes could be developed for young people here.
Some residents felt that there should be more facilities for children aged 6-12 years and highlighted that an adventure playground could be developed on the village green or the Yarnfield Park area. Some people thought that it might be a good idea to install basketball hoops on the green and also to access football pitches at the Springbank Stadium and at the Yarnfield Park site. There appears to be a lack of informal facilities for football, football training and football teams. It was felt that the village green and the park area are places where these activities could be developed and as places where goal posts could be sited.
There seems to be a lack of facilities aimed specifically at the very young. A number of suggestions highlighted the need for better play facilities for under 5’s, as the one site on the village green often has young people hanging around, is unkempt, vandalised and those wishing to use the swings etc. feel intimidated. There are other pockets of green space within the housing estates that could be developed.
Residents commented that the Sport and Social Club at Yarnfield Park could accommodate one or some of other sporting / leisure activities such as tennis courts, a cricket pitch, a sports complex with a swimming pool, a keep fit club and also would like to see floodlighting installed. It was also suggested that sports coaches were needed here.
For more information on this contact NIF on 01952 590777 or email admin@nif.co.uk
