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NORMANTON & FEATHERSTONE AREA GREENSPACE REPORT

SUMMARY

The amount of Equipped Play in each ward is above the standard amount

The amount of Outdoor Recreation is low except for the ward of Featherstone

The amount of Allotments in each ward is considerably above the standard amount

INTRODUCTION

This Blueprint proposes changes to make the greenspace network fairer and more sustainable. The

aim will be to provide something for everyone rather than everything for everyone.

To ensure a consistent approach across the whole district a two stage assessment will be made of

greenspace provision alongside local knowledge of the area:

Access to greenspace and facilities will be assessed using the catchment distances in Table 1

The amount of accessible greenspace and facilities will be assessed using quantity standards

It is recommended that the Blueprint is reviewed at least annually.

1. MAIN SITES

The Neighbourhood Management Area of Normanton and Featherstone is made up of the wards of

Normanton, Featherstone and the west part of Altofts and Whitwood as shown in Appendix I.

Purston Park is the main park for Featherstone.

A management plan has recently been prepared and adopted for Haw Hill Park. Funding for the plan

is potentially available from Section 106 funding from nearby developments.

Savile Park is a sports themed park adjacent to a hospital with a middle section lost to a depot area.

Heath Common is an attractive natural area housing the conservation village of Heath.

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Table 1: Greenspace Catchment Distances

Greenspace

Category

Catchment

Distance(s)

Minimum

Area(s)

Description of Greenspace Category

Accessible

Greenspace

120m - Churchgrounds, Natural Areas,

Sportsfields and Amenity Areas

which are publicly accessible

Sites must provide for recreation – does

not include sites offering only visual

benefits

Outdoor

Recreation

250m 500m 0.2ha 2ha Sportsfields and Amenity Areas

suitable for ball games such as

kickabout

Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs) should

be prioritised for areas where there is little

Outdoor Recreation

Equipped

Play Area

500m 2ha Equipped Play Areas for children

containing manufactured play

equipment

Equipped Play Areas should be prioritised

in areas where there is little Accessible

Greenspace

Skateboard

Park

500m - Skateboard Parks: basins and

ramps for skateboarding

Formal BMX tracks are also included in this

category

Natural Areas 500m

2km

5km

2ha

20ha

100ha

Areas of natural greenspace such as

grasslands and woodlands which

are publicly accessible

Management of Natural Areas for the

benefit of biodiversity is covered in the

Local Biodiversity Action Plan

Allotments - -

Plots of land rented to individuals for the purpose of growing produce

Allotment sites are not accessible to the general public

Green Linkages

-

- Walking and cycling linkages for recreation and commuting that do not use public carriageways

Green Linkages that are appealing to use can greatly increase access to recreational greenspaces

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2. LOCAL PLAN

The Local Plan can be viewed as an interactive map on the LDF Portal in Planning Policy on the

Wakefield Council website. Appendix II shows:

Adopted policies from the Local Plan (Special Policy Areas, Housing Sites and Protected

Areas of Search)

Policies in consultation from the The Leisure, Recreation and Open Space Local Plan

(Strategic Leisure Corridors, Leisure Opportunities Areas and Sports Facilities)

2.1 Adopted Policies

Housing allocations between Altofts and Normanton (HS43 – HS48) virtually merge the two

settlements together leaving the railway line as the dividing feature. Development of the former

brick works HS46 would result in a loss of a natural area and there is a substantial strip of natural

greenspace included in PAS6.

HS43 – HS45 combined require a kickabout, play area and community recreational open space. HS46

and HS47 will require accessible greenspace on site.

Green linkages from all developments to Normanton Train Station should be prioritised. A

regeneration master plan is being prepared for the area which will include employment, housing,

open space and green infrastructure.

Housing allocations HS49 and HS50 in Featherstone present no great loss of accessible greenspace.

HS49 requires a 2ha natural greenspace either on or off site, and HS50 requires accessible

greenspace and play area. Special Policy Area SPA 10 requires a kickabout to be retained and

provision of accessible greenspace - but presents a substantial loss of amenity greenspace and a

playing pitch.

2.2 Leisure, Recreation and Open Space Local Plan

Leisure Opportunity Area LA5 in Whitwood represents no loss of accessible greenspace, but neither

may it provide any new greenspace since the allocation is to provide “canal related leisure uses and

ecological enhancement”.

Sports Facility SF1 is the development of the Featherstone Rovers site into a sports hub with

community facilities which has the potential to change the recreational use of existing accessible

natural and amenity greenspaces. New sport facilities could diversify recreational uses in

combination with enhancements to natural areas and informal greenspace.

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3. ANALYSIS

A map of Accessible Greenspace and Allotments is shown in Appendix III and areas of greenspace

deprivation are shown in Appendix IV.

3.1 Accessible Greenspace

A catchment distance of 120m is applied to Accessible Greenspace which comprises Churchgrounds,

Sportsfields, Natural Areas and Amenity Areas that are accessible to the public and provide for

recreation. There is no minimum site size.

Applying the catchment distance of 120m indicates that there is an area of Accessible Greenspace

Deprivation (AGD401) in the part of the ward of Altofts and Whitwood in this Neighbourhood

Management Area.

The distribution of Accessible Greenspace in the ward of Normanton is good with only one area of

Accessible Greenspace Deprivation in the south of the town (AGD402).

In the ward of Featherstone, there are areas of greenspace shortfall in Sharlston (AGD403) and

Purston (AGD404) - the latter should be reduced by Accessible Greenspace provided on

development HS49.

3.2 Equipped Play Areas

West part of the Ward of Altofts and Whitwood

Ward of Normanton

Ward of Featherstone

NORMANTON & FEATHERSTONE

Equipped Play Areas 3 8 7 18

Population 6,191 16,424 16,151 38,766

Sites/1000 residents 0.48 0.49 0.43 0.46

Table 2: Equipped Play Areas (Standard is 0.3 sites/1000 residents)

Equipped Play Area provision is consistently well above the standard amount throughout the

Neighbourhood Management Area.

Applying the 500m catchment area to Equipped Play Areas in the part of the ward of Altofts and

Whitwood in this Neighbourhood Management Area indicates good coverage.

Coverage is good for the ward of Normanton. The removal of two out-of-date Equipped Play Areas

close to Haw Hill Park would retain good coverage and still exceed the quantity standard.

Development of Equipped Play in Haw Hill Park should provide the opportunity to carry out these

removals.

The distribution of Equipped Play Areas in the ward of Featherstone is poor. There are four

Equipped Play Areas for the small populations of Sharlston and Streethouse in the west of the ward

and just three for the much larger populations of Featherstone, Purston and Ackton in the east of

the ward.

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Applying the 500m catchment distance to Equipped Play Areas indicates that the following ones are

in highly sustainable and valuable locations and will potentially be refurbished as a priority:

Haw Hill Park, Normanton

Linton Rise/Western Gales, Normanton

Walnut Drive, Normanton

Purston Park

Sharlston Common

3.3 Outdoor Recreation

Outdoor Recreation comprises sports fields and areas suitable for informal games. Sites over 0.2ha

are allocated a 250m catchment distance and sites over 2ha are allocated a 500m catchment

distance. There are no areas of Outdoor Recreation Deprivation for sites over 2ha in the

Neighbourhood Management Area.

West part of the Ward of Altofts and Whitwood

Ward of Normanton

Ward of Featherstone

NORMANTON & FEATHERSTONE

MUGAs 1 0 1 2

Outdoor Recreation 8.7ha 22.8ha 53.3ha 84.8ha

Population 6,191 16,424 16,151 38,766

Ha/1000 1.41 1.39 3.30 2.19

Table 3: Outdoor Recreation (Standard is 2.4ha/1000 residents)

Coverage of Outdoor Recreation is low in the part of the ward of Altofts and Whitwood in this

Neighbourhood Management Area - but a MUGA in Altofts compensates for this to some extent.

There are two pockets of Outdoor Recreation Deprivation for sites over 0.2ha in Altofts (ORDA401

and ORDA402).

The amount of Outdoor Recreation in the ward of Normanton is also low. Coverage of Outdoor

Recreation over 0.2ha is poor in the east of the town (ORDA403) and provision will be required from

developments HS43 – HS45. Development of Freestone Academy playing fields would create a

significant shortfall in Outdoor Recreation over 2ha, and would certainly justify a MUGA.

Despite the amount of Outdoor Recreation being above the standard for the ward of Featherstone

there are areas of Outdoor Recreation Deprivation in Sharlston (ORDA404) and North Featherstone

(ORDA405 and ORDA406). There is ample Outdoor Recreation in Purston which also has a MUGA.

3.4 Skateboard Park & BMX

There is a skateboard park in Purston Park and some skateboard features at The Crescent,

Streethouse.

A skateboard park or BMX track could be justified in Altofts or Normanton but no suitable site can be

found - despite repeated requests Haw Hill Park in Normanton is not considered to be a suitable site.

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3.5 Natural Areas

Natural Areas comprise publicly accessible woodlands and natural heath and grasslands. Sites over

2ha are allocated a 500m catchment distance and sites over 20ha are allocated a 2km catchment

distance.

Altofts and Normanton are both mostly in shortfall of the 2ha category of Natural Areas (NGD401

and NGD402).

Coverage of the 20ha category of Natural Areas is good for the Neighbourhood Management Area

except for the for the north part of the town of Normanton.

There are 11.5ha of new Natural Areas due to the Naturalisation Programme (most of which are in

Purston) but the areas of Natural Greenspace Deprivation are unaffected. Maps have not been

updated to reflect the Naturalisation Programme.

3.6 Allotments

West part of the Ward of Altofts and Whitwood

Ward of Normanton

Ward of Featherstone

NORMANTON & FEATHERSTONE

Allotments 8.4ha 10.3ha 17.4ha 36.1ha

Population 6,191 16,424 16,151 38,766

Ha/1000 1.36 0.63 1.08 0.93

Table 4: Allotments (Standard is 0.2ha/1000 residents)

There are very high levels of Allotments provision across the Neighbourhood Management Area.

Wakefield Council no longer manages any of the sites (except for those in Whitwood) and it cannot

be confirmed whether the sites are now used for other purposes such as grazing.

Until recently, some of the sites in Featherstone were managed by Wakefield Council and

information from that time indicates that waiting lists were short implying that there was no

shortfall.

3.7 Sites Recommended for Protection

It is recommended that no loss even incremental should be accepted on any of the following sites

(see appendix V). Proposals for changes to other sites will be assessed on a site by site basis.

Altofts P401 – P402

Normanton P403 – P405

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4. RELATED PLANS

The following plans are continually updated. The first three plans in the table are used to track the

delivery of projects:

Plan Name SharePoint Location Description

Parks and Open Space Capital Plan

Greenspace/ Finances/.. Approved improvements to parks infrastructure and facilities

Section 106 Funding Tracker

Greenspace/ Finances/.. Allocations for commuted sums for offsite improvements

Greenspace Delivery Plan

Greenspace/ GS2 Delivery Plan/..

List of projects identified from the draft Greenspace Plan

Asset Management Plan

Greenspace/ Property & Assets/..

Lists of buildings, facilities, allotments, leases and licences

The Greenspace Policy

TBA Policy guiding the planning, management and financing of greenspace

Greenspace Blueprints

Greenspace/ Greenspace Planning/..

This report - plus ones for the six other Neighbourhood Management Areas

Disclaimer

Wakefield Council takes no responsibility for the accuracy of information contained within this report which should be

considered as advisory. Any recommendations or proposals may be withdrawn or altered at any time. Identified areas of

greenspace shortfall do not imply that Wakefield Council is under any obligation to fulfil this need.

There is a significant delay between new greenspace being created on new developments and the greenspace being

mapped. Caution should therefore be exercised in identifying areas of greenspace shortfall near recent developments. Site

specific requirements for greenspace are negotiated with developers and may not always be provided as required in the

Local Plan.

APPENDICES

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Appendix I

Ward Boundaries for

Normanton and Featherstone

Neighbourhood Management Area

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Appendix II

Adopted and Proposed

Policies from the Local Plan

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Appendix III

Accessible Greenspace

and Allotments

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Appendix IV

Greenspace Deprivation Areas