Turnpike Field in 2020

Turnpike Field and 2020 – did much happen??

Apart from the obvious increase in people of all ages spending time in all parts of the field (walking, picnicking, sitting, rope swinging etc), did anything actually change in Turnpike Field this year??
Well although you may think that there hasn't been a great deal of activity, its actually been quite a productive year!
Unfortunately Covid has meant that it wasn't, and still isn't, possible to hold a public meeting so as to update the community on what's happened/happening. So please read on.............

Green Car Park:

Progress has unfortunately been slower than desired, primarily because of the Covid situation. Following some visits to look at several green car park installations, an advert was placed on AOL at the end of January requesting tenders from individuals/companies to undertake the preparation of final design drawings for the proposed new Green Car Park with a closing date of 5th March 2020. No responses were received.

However a local resident very kindly offered draw up plans for submission to CEC with no charge to Audlem Parish Council (APC). A subsequent site meeting was held with this resident to discuss the technical aspects – unfortunately it was not possible to make any further progress at that time.

At the recent October meeting of the Working Group it was agreed to progress the first phase technical works building on the plans which had been developed previously. Hopefully these can be still progressed following the latest Covid lockdown plan for November.

In July, following correspondence received from CEC relating to measures for social distancing for highways and open spaces, APC responded to CEC suggesting Turnpike Field could be used as a temporary car park during the summer, however unfortunately this has not progressed.

Other Activities

A number of projects were successfully completed this year – all aimed at improving the field as a community recreational asset, whilst preserving and hopefully enhancing its natural state.

• * creating mown walking paths
• * installation of picnic benches
• * installation of rubbish bins
• * tree maintenance
• * creation and fencing of two ponds
• * discussion and documenting of the wide variety of wildlife
• * clearing of a significant amount of Himalayan Balsam
• * £500 grant won from Calor towards the cost of fencing the ponds.