The City Council is consulting residents on a programme of Play Zones in the city. The deadline for consultation is 28th July 2024. The consultation document states….
The Council is working in partnership with West Midlands Police and the Football Foundation on the new PlayZone Programme.
Using investment from the Premier League, The FA and the Government through Sport England, with some match funding from the Council, the PlayZones Programme aims to engage with local communities across the country to create outstanding sports and activity spaces and tackle inequalities in participation.
This is an exciting new project renovating old Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs) into PlayZones and building new PlayZones from scratch. This project aims to tackle inequalities in physical activity and provide access to high-quality community facilities in local, accessible spaces. The project focuses on four key target groups:
- Lower socio economic groups
- Women and girls
- Disabled people and people with long term health conditions
- Ethnically diverse communities
Although the Football Foundation is football-led, they want other sports and activities to benefit from the facilities. PlayZones are designed not only for recreational football, but a whole host of other sports and activities, from basketball to netball, rugby, hockey, cricket and more.
A PlayZone is accessed by a Smart Access System. You will be able to book exclusive hire through an app / website that will provide a unique code which can be entered to unlock the gate. This means that community organisations and sports clubs will be able to book the space for a small fee to enable exclusive access. We also want to make sure there are times when the gate can be left open for use by all.
We have developed a shortlist of existing MUGAs which we think would really benefit from becoming a PlayZone and where we could get more use from the target groups: Before we submit a final application to the Football Foundation, we want to know what you think about the existing provision in the following areas:
- Edgwick Park – Foleshill Road
- Moat House – Winston Avenue
- Yardley Street – Hillfields Young People’s Centre
- Longford Park
- Jardine Crescent – Tile Hill
We are also looking at whether we could develop a new PlayZone in Willenhall.
Before we submit a final application to the Football Foundation, we want to know what you think would make these areas better, what would encourage you or your club to use them. Do they need floodlights, different surfacing, seating, making safer or something else? Or for Willenhall whether a PlayZone is possible in the area.
We will use what you tell us to help us decide whether we include all or just some of the sites in the final application and what we ask for funding to do. Please let us know your thoughts by completing one of the surveys below. There is one survey for the five existing MUGAs and a separate one for Willenhall.
We will share the results of the survey and the decision about each site on this page later in the year. Please complete the survey by Sunday 28 July.
Visit the consultation website here. If you have any questions, please email mailto:[email protected]