Davenham playing fields boost for community (From Northwich Guardian)

Davenham playing fields boost for community

5:20pm Monday 15th March 2010 in News

A PLAYING field is growing as a facility for Davenham now councillors are making vital improvements.

Davenham Parish Council has been working on plans for Laburnum Road field for more than six years, but now the formerly muddy patch of land has been drained, new grass grown and a new path laid.

Clr John Curran said: “The field is certainly being used now.

“Kids are playing football on it and people are walking around – the path has made a difference.”

Councillors hope to turn the field into a facility for the entire community to enjoy.

They want to create a play area for children as well as different types of habitats, including a wildflower garden and a bog garden.

Trees are currently being planted around the field, with the promise of more to come.

Clr Dave Ravenscroft said he hoped criminals could help out with planting some of the bigger trees through the Community Payback scheme.

“We arranged a meeting with Cheshire Landscape Trust who have donated trees,” he said.

“We’ve picked up 50, transported them back to Laburnum Road and planted most of them.

“They’ve also got larger ones which are pencilled in for us to collect before the end of March.

“We will have to dig them up as well as plant them, which takes a considerable amount of time and we will need more hands.

“Our PCSO has mentioned Community Payback – they could dig the holes.”

The council are also discussing the tricky issue of waste bins and dog waste bins for the field.

Jo O’Donoghue, parish clerk, said: “Who’s going to empty them, how often and how much will we pay?”

She added: “Cheshire West and Chester Council has a policy the they’ll install their own bins and be responsible for emptying them but they’ve no responsibility for bins installed by other bodies.”

Clr Chris Colclough, parish council chairman, said: “This was a key factor in Kingsmead – we can install bins, it’s who’s going to empty them that’s the issue.

“We’re going to have to find out before we commit to any expenditure.

“We need something but don’t want something that will be burdensome to us.”