Hampshire County Council Executive Member - Policy and Resources Item 31 October 2006 Merton Rise, Basingstoke - Chineham Lane Local Park: Project Appraisal Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

Contact: Louise Hague Ext: 6578 e-mail: [email protected]

1	Introduction
1.1	This report concerns the provision of new public open space facilities within the Merton Rise development, and will enhance the quality of space and maximise wellbeing by ensuring that a well-planned open space is provided to serve the new community early in the development process, and that it includes provision of a landscaped kickabout area, and an equipped play area that will have a theme that should interest and stimulate young children.
1.2	As part of the County Council owned Merton Rise development area at North Popley, Basingstoke, a series of strategic open spaces (as either play equipped green parks or "hard" urban squares) are to be provided as an integral part of the strategic housing phases of development. The Section 106 Planning Agreement for Merton Rise site identifies a cascade of obligations that require developers to provide these key open spaces alongside new housing and other land uses, rather than allowing for them to be provided later in the development process.
1.3	This managed provision means that areas of open space and equipped play spaces are available when the first dwellings are occupied on the site and avoids the opportunity for "gaps" in the completed development to result.
1.4	As part of the selection of the preferred purchasers for parcels within Planning Phase 1 (approved by the Executive Member earlier this year), the selected developer is required as a condition of sale to pay to the County Council a sum of £300,000 plus VAT to cover the cost of providing the key area of open space within Phase 1 land. The provision of Chineham Lane Local Park, includes a kickabout area, a local equipped area for play (LEAP) and strategic footpath/cycleway links. This will meet the phase specific open space obligation, provide a maturing landscaped setting for the new development and importantly provide a key "safe route to school" as part of the school travel plan for the new Everest Community College due to be opened next year.
1.5	The funding from the selected developer will be paid to the County Council when the site is sold and allow the County Council to procure the Park, undertake interim maintenance pending the transfer of the longer-term management of the Park to the Borough Council with payment of an appropriate future maintenance "dowry" also included in the sum to be collected.
1.6	As the funding lies outside approved funding for the North Popley Infrastructure, a separate Project Appraisal is therefore needed and this is the purpose of this report to allow the scheme of works to be tendered this Autumn and the contract let early next financial year.
2	Scope of the Works (Please see attached plans, HED420 Illustrative Layout, HED420.256 Location Plan and Equipment Images)
2.1	The scope of the works will include the provision of the kickabout space (approx 0.43 ha), the fenced, equipped play area (approx 0.043 ha), street furniture (including seating, bins and signage, public art and associated soft and hard landscaping.
2.2	The kickabout space will consist of a sculpted landscape with a grass bund surrounding the perimeter and grass banks sloping towards the central space. The landform will be contoured to balance the cut-and-fill requirement of the park and avoid the removal of material off-site. Small-scale enabling earthworks are to be undertaken between January and March 2007 to allow works to start in April 2007 in order to meet the seeding season and support the maturation of this area before it is transferred to Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council.
2.3	The fenced, equipped play area is to have a theme exploring the idea of the galaxy and the universe. The play area will consist of eight items of equipment sourced from Kompan. It will be enclosed with a 1.0m high bow-top galvanised fence, powder-coated blue, with two pedestrian access points using 1.2m wide galvanised easy gates, powder-coated yellow. Dog grids are to be installed in the pedestrian gates to prevent canine access and a galvanised 2.4m wide maintenance gate will also serve the space, powder-coated yellow. Full safety surfacing is to be provided within the play area to the appropriate depth for each individual type of play equipment. There are three principal routes of access from the footpath/cycleway surrounding the park, from the north, south and east. These routes are formed of 2m wide bonded gravel footpaths with timber edging.
2.4	A RoSPA inspection and certificate will be provided prior to the handover to Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council.
3	Funding and Timing
3.1	Funding is to be provided as part of the sale of parcel 1a to the selected developer. Completion of the sale is anticipated in March 2007 therefore funding will be available within the 07/08 financial year.
3.2	Subject to the necessary approvals (including reserved matters planning consent), it is anticipated that tenders will be invited during Autumn 2006 and the main work will commence on site during April 2007 and be completed by November 2007.
4	Consultation with Local Member
4.1	Councillor Mrs Jane Frankum, the local Member for this area, has been consulted and fully supports the entire Merton Rise and associated key open space projects.
5	Conclusion
	The provision of Chineham Lane Local Park is a requirement under the terms of the planning approval for the Merton Rise Phase 1 development. The park will provide much needed open space and secure play areas for the residents of the new development. Additionally, it will be of immediate benefit to the wider Popley community.
Recommendation
That the Executive Member (Policy & Resources) approves the project appraisal for the Chineham Lane Local Park, at an estimated cost of £255,000 excluding fees and VAT.

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY
	Yes	No
Hampshire safer and more secure for all		_
Maximising well-being	_
Enhancing our quality of place	_

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision because: N/A

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Plans showing location, general layout and detail of proposed play equipment attached.

EM238D06 LEH/24-Oct-06

Hampshire County Council Draft

Park Design Project Appraisal

Executive Member - Policy and Resources

31 October 2006

Project:	Merton Rise Phase 1, Basingstoke - Chineham Lane Local Park
	Implementation and procurement of key area of open space
Commencement date:	April 2007
Completion date:	November 2007
Planned year of start in accordance with Capital Programme:		2007/08

Recommendation:

That the procurement and implementation of the above project be approved.

1 Finance

Capital Expenditure	Current Estimate £'000	Capital Programme £'000
Works	255	_
Fees	23	_
Land to be purchased	_	_
Total	278

* The means by which the difference between the Current Estimate and the Capital Programme

allocation is to be met is shown in the table below.

Financial Provision for Total Scheme	Works £'000	Fees £'000	Total cost £'000
1 From own Resources:
a) Merton Rise Infrastructure Fund and other consultancy budgets(fees)	-	23	23
2 From Other Resources:
a) Developers Contribution (07/08)	300	-	300
Total	300	23	323

Building Cost - Net Cost = £ per m² N/A

- Gross Cost = £ per m² N/A

Devolved Capital allocations £'000

2004/05 N/A

2005/06 N/A

2006/07 N/A

2007/08 N/A

Total N/A

Landowner funded work connected with this scheme

An allocation has been made in the Merton Rise Infrastructure Works budget towards the small-scale enabling earthworks required between January and March 2007 (c. £20,000) and to also cover the design and supervision fees for these works.

Value of land already acquired for this project

The land required for the project forms part of the County Council owned Merton Rise site. The land was acquired at historic cost as part of the County Farms Estate and its current value to the County Council is as part of the wider Merton Rise development area.

Revenue implications

	(a) Employees £'000	(b) Other £'000	(a+b) *Net Current Expenditure £'000	(c) Capital Charges £'000	(a+b+c) Total Net Expenditure £'000
Revenue Implications Additional+ /Reductions	-	-	-	-	-
Unit cost (£) (e.g. per place)	-	-	-	-	-
% variation to Committee's budget	-	-	-	-	-
Number of additional Staff (fte)	-	-	-	-	-

For Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council to take forward the future management of the Park, a commuted payment "dowry" of £42,000 has been accounted for within the developers' payment.

Energy costs

N/A

2 Details of site and existing infrastructure

Chineham Lane Local Park will provide the primary area of open space within Planning Phase 1 of the Merton Rise development and will also provide ancillary access to open space for parts of the adjoining Phase 2 land also. The Park will have a prominent position, adjacent to the Spine Road at the corner of the redirected Chineham Lane as it converges with the new Spine Road. It will sit between the two sub-parcels within Phase 1, parcels 1a and 1b and therefore performs an important role providing a focus for the two developments.

The Park is served by a pedestrian/cycle link along the southern boundary, connecting through from Chineham Lane to the new Everest Community College to the north and along the eastern boundary by a footpath linking Chineham Lane through parcels 1b, into the phase 2 land adjoining.

The total site area for the Park is 1.26 acres (0.51 hectares).

Access

In the short term , vehicular maintenance access will be from the Spine Road although in the long term grounds maintenance will undertaken using other access roads to be provided by the developer of parcel 1b.

Existing buildings and temporary buildings

The site is currently bare, formerly part of Greatfield Farm

Results of trial boreholes

The ground is predominantly chalk with good natural soakage. The cut and fill exercise will expose the chalk which could result in surplus arisings but it is hoped that the overall scheme will be arising neutral. with no need to landfill off site any surplus material.

It should be noted that a SUD's blanket feature and associated pipework is to be located underneath the Park.

Mains services position

Street lighting is to be provided to the park for additional security.

3 Scope of the Project

Type of project, layout and facilities provided

The project is to provide the following:

· Kickabout area

· Fenced equipped play area

· Street furniture (seating, bins, signage)

· Public art

· Soft landscaping

· Safe pedestrian/cycle route through to Everest Community College

Places provided

The fenced play area will provide secure equipped, play for children between the ages of 1 - 15 years. The park itself will provide essential open space for the wider community.

4 The Proposed Building

Type of construction, finish and appearance

N/A

Accessible facilities

A full Design and Access Statement is to be provided as part of the reserve matters planning application.

Heating and ventilation systems

N/A

Fire risk assessment

N/A

Health and safety

A designer's risk assessment and a design health and safety plan, in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 1994, have been undertaken for the proposed scheme.

5 External Works

Car parking

No car parking is to be provided as part of this project.

Landscape proposals

A simple and robust soft landscaping design is to be employed for the park to ensure the space is able to stand up to the rigors of public use and to provide ease of maintenance.

A strong framework of street and park trees is to be located around the edge of the park giving presence and enclosure to the space. All trees are to be semi-mature, a minimum of 30 - 35cm girth with 2.4m clear stems, under ground guyed and about 6m high on planting. All tree pits are to have water loops and any tree within 3m of services runs will have root barriers installed. Around the southern boundary of the park a Beech hedge is to be planted to prevent footballs running onto the adjacent road. The hedge is to be reinforced whilst it establishes by a central post & wire fence.

Around the play space, groundcover and shrub planting will supplement the park trees and provide areas of shade for children using the play equipment. All shrub planting will be mulched with 75mm depth of ornamental grade bark mulch.

Situation on site and environmental impact

Following recent European Court rulings, a re-scoped Environmental Impact Assessment will form part of the proposed reserved matters planning application for the project.

6 Planning

Planning consent for the works is to be achieved by way of a Regulation 4 Reserved Matters planning application under the existing outline consent. This is to be submitted at the end of September along with the developers applications for the Merton Rise Phase 1 sub-parcels. The application will be determined by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council as Local Planning Authority for the site.

7 Site management

There will be a 12 month period between completion of the park and handover to Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council within which the County Council will be responsible for maintenance of the Park. The cost for this management period is accounted for within the project cost.

8 Furniture and equipment

N/A

9 Professional resources

Landscape Architectural Services } Highland Edgar Driver

Supported by } Tibbalds Planning & Urban Design

} HCC's Planning and Urban Designers

10 Consultations

The following have been consulted during the development of the project:

local County Councillor

Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council's Planning and Leisure Services Officers.

There is a key opportunity on the site for artwork which is to be separately consulted on, together with an opportunity for a re-naming exercise of the Park once the adjoining development becomes occupied.