GARTMORE MULTI USE GAMES AREA
COMMUNITY CONSULTATION DISTRIBUTION
The community consultation ran throughout the month of November. It was the most widely distributed community consultation by any Gartmore community body in recent years. Physical notification was made through Gartmore News, the Stirling Observer and the Village Shop and digital notification through its own website, email to 273 trust members/village hall users and various Gartmore Community social media streams.
RESULTS
Many thanks to all who took the time to share their views with us. Not only was this the most widely distributed community consultation in recent years but it also had the best response rate with 148 responses, To put this in context, our 2018 Community Action Plan survey received 68 responses and our 2019 Black Bull pub acquisition survey received 85 responses.
The responses were split 98 (66.2%) in favour of the proposition and 50 (33.8%) not in favour.
BY AGE GROUP
Their was good participation across all age groups, recognising that not only is the MUGA a great facility for the young, but it would also be valued by older age groups as a vital part of maintaining their health & well being.
YOU SAID.......
"The village has needed something like this for years so it’s long overdue! We need to encourage all ages to take part in sports and cutting down on travelling to other facilities is surely a good thing all round."
SPORTING PREFERENCE
Each respondent was able to select multiple sports that they would like to be able to play. Tennis came out on top (65 responses), followed by 5 a side football/basketball then netball/hockey. The advantages of a "MUGA" are that all these sports can be accommodated on one surface. A number of other sports/activities were cited for example outdoor exercise classes and handball and there is no reason why the MUGA could not be used for these activities as well.
USAGE
On average, respondents who said they would use the MUGA indicated they would use it just under twice per week. This is a pretty high level of usage even if multiple respondents used the MUGA at the same time. Whilst projected usage naturally declines with age, usage in the older age group was only 38% lower than the youngest age group!
NEXT STEPS
Through the consultation, respondents both in favour and not in favour of the proposition raised matters that they would like the Trust to consider. In order to do so, we will hold a public meeting in the Gartmore Village Hall in March to discuss these matters in more detail (timing tbc), The matters most frequently raised included :
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Floodlighting
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Parking
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Aesthetics/Landscaping
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Noise