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Major cash boost for improvements to Swindon country park

Major cash boost for improvements to Swindon country park

Major cash boost for improvements to Swindon country park

Coate Water Country Park is to be brought back to life with more than £400,000 investment.

Swindon Borough Council has received a £424,000 pot of cash, which has come from developer contributions associated with the Badbury Park development, to make improvements at Coate Water Country Park.

It will be spent on:

  • Footpath improvements
  • Better signage
  • Enhanced access to the park from Day House Lane
  • Improvements to the children’s play areas
  • Measures to mitigate the effects of development at Badbury Park on Coate.

The improvements will all be in keeping with Coate’s character and status as a country park, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and local nature reserve.

The improvements will include the replacement of the current children’s play area, which is located on the east bank of the lake. The play area is known to flood because the site was once a concrete paddling pool.

The council hopes to start making some of these changes this winter, with the aim of completing the whole improvement project by late 2022.

Councillor Dale Heenan, Cabinet Member for the Town Centre, Heritage and Culture, said: “I was very pleased, back in May, to become the cabinet member responsible for parks because I walk my dog around a different park every day, and know the great spaces that we have in every corner of our town.

“One of the first things I asked council officers to work on was drafting Swindon’s first Country Park Improvement Plan, with Coate Water the immediate priority.

“This £400,000 of improvements is on top of the annual £200,000 budget for Coate Water, and is just the start of our ambition. Swindon is blessed with a large number of green spaces and parks that we should be proud of. This council is committed to protecting and improving them for the good of the whole community.”

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