Whitworth Park

hey got an email back about whitworth park, how should we reply?

Hi Stephen

Thanks for your recent email regarding the ball court at Whitworth Park.
My name is Ria Page and I am the Park Warden for the Moss Side Area, I have also spoken to Woody Faulkner about this site and his interest in the site for the use of Bike Polo, he did give me his email address but i cannot find it on my system, please can you pass the information along to him and ask him to contact me if he requires anything further.

Leisure Services have recently removed the slippery surface known as wetpour and have scraped and swept the tarmac underneath in the existing ball court area. As far as we are aware this is the only surface works that has or is going to happen at present.
The friends of Whitworth Park along with myself have recently written a management plan for the whole park and the redevelopment of the court is included in the plan.
The plan is designed so that the partners using and managing Whitworth Park reach the same ideas / goal as to what the next 5 years should achieve. Nothing in the plan is permanent and no details have been decided about any of the projects.
Ken Shone (Chairman of the Friends of Whitworth Park) has contacted your club recently to find out the extent of the use and what requirements the club would need as It would not be in anyone's best interest to propose to redevelop an area that is already being used without consultation.

So this is our way forward:

We would like to invite any of the Bike Polo Team Representatives along to a meeting where we can discuss the future of the site and how the Bike Polo Team / Club could get involved.
There is also information you will need to know about the development happening at the Whitworth Art Gallery and how their extension impacts around the area of the park where the ball court is currently situated.
I have answered the questions below as best as i could for now because as i mentioned above no project or development has been finalised as of yet and it would be best to revisit these questions again at a later date.

My questions are:

Will the Brick walls be left round the court? (this is preferable to us)
This is undecided. The project will be discussed and consultation will take place with regular users, the friends group and our Play Development Team. This will be a partnership decision.

will Football goals/basket ball nets be installed? (this would not be preferable to us)
Again this is undecided, However given that the new natural play area is in the same area as the ball court added feature may well be something that could be asked for in the consultation, is there a compromise the club are willing to accept in this case?

will the floodlights be fixed and operate in the evenings?
The introduction of flood lighting has to be maintained by Leisure Services and at present there is currently no money to sustain the lighting if it was to be fixed. Other parks have looked into alternative solar lighting but this is by no means to the standard set by Sport England for sports sites.
The Solar lighting is something that could be looked into when the project is proposed in the future if this is decidedly what the partners agree.

I have read about the Gates being locked at 8pm, will this mean no use of the court after 8pm?
when work is expected to be completed?
The introduction of closing times will mean that the court is only available when the park is open as the lighter nights are progressing the locking times are pushed back, therefore the closing of the park should not affect the use of the court during daylight hours.

Any questions you can answer or any visuals of how a Multi Use Games Area in Whitworth park will look and consist of would be greatly appreciated
Again the project is yet to get to this point, our initial meeting along with some consultation will help and influence contractors designs at a later date.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me on the below telephone number.

Kind Regards

Ria Page