SYCT held a very successful community engagement event at Streatham Vale Park on 27 April 2024. A total of 74 individuals provided feedback on the future services they would like to see at the park.
Reflecting our location on the boundary between Lambeth and Merton, 55 percent of those who provided feedback were Lambeth residents while 28 percent were Merton residents. The remaining 17 percent were residents of other London boroughs, including Croydon, Wandsworth, and Mitcham.
As part of the event all visitors were offered six tokens – 2 red, 2 green and 2 blue tokens. They were able to use these tokens to let us know what services they felt were most needed in the local area for three different age groups (early years, 5- to 12-year-old and 13+). There was also plenty of opportunity to write down further suggestions and comments. The below summarises the feedback received in each age-group.
13+
For ages 13 and over, the option on the table were sports, dance and drama, baking and cooking and our Young Leaders programme.
Sports was very popular for this age, followed by Young Leaders and dance and drama.
On this table the feedback gave us food for thought, with lots of adults stressing they were also 13+ and wanted in on the fun.
We got lots of requests for activities for adults and older people, including gardening, sports, coffee mornings, arts classes, and Pilates. There was also strong support for intergenerational activities for the whole community to get involved in, including community fun days and joint gardening and maintenance projects.
13+ | Tokens | percentage |
Sports | 56 | 44% |
Dance and Drama | 28 | 22% |
Baking and cooking | 7 | 6% |
Young Leaders | 36 | 28% |
Total | 127 |
5- to 12-year-olds
For 5- to 12-year-olds we suggested sports clubs, dance and drama sessions, adventure play sessions and a baking and cooking clubs.
Again, we had a spread of preferences, with sports and adventure play proving firm favourites alongside drama and dance. There were also lots of good ideas in the suggestions, including session for home-educated children during school time, a walking bus from local primary schools to make it easier to attend afterschool clubs, and a focus on learning new skills like fixing bikes and carpentry.
There was also support for forest school type activities for this age group, potentially with a link to a residential to put those skills to the test. Several people stressed the need for provision on Saturdays alongside the afterschool and holiday provision.
5- to 12-year-olds | Tokens | percentage |
Sports | 46 | 37% |
Dance and Drama | 29 | 23% |
Adventure play | 39 | 31% |
Baking and cooking | 10 | 8% |
Total | 124 |
Early years
In the early years section, we offered stay and play, parent and child cooking sessions and parent and child forest school activities as options to explore. We also added the option of a nursery run by an organisation other than SYCT, as we are aware that there is demand for this from some parents following the closure of the SYCT run nursery on the site.
There was a spread of preferences in terms of the options presented, with a privately run nursery and stay and play session proving most popular. We however also got several suggestions outside of the options presented, including English as a second language parent and child sessions, intergenerational gardening activities, and lunchtime and soft play clubs. Some felt the need for a private nursery was greatest and needed to take priority over other community uses. Others would like to see a more balanced use of the space with greater access for community members of all ages.
Early Years | Tokens | percentage |
Stay and Play | 42 | 34% |
Cooking and baking | 5 | 4% |
Forest school sessions | 13 | 11% |
Privately-run Nursery | 62 | 51% |
Total | 122 |
Sharing the space and getting the right expertise in
With so many good ideas for different target groups, we were grateful to also receive some ideas on how to make this work.
The main piece of feedback was that SYCT does not need to have the expertise to run all these activities and we should work in partnership with others to provide as wide a range of services as possible. There were also some suggestions to look at the layout of the building to make it more flexible to use, so different target groups could share the space more easily. Finally, some felt that the nursery provision should be the priority and everything else should be planned around this.
What next?
We will share the feedback received with those who attended the day and provided their contact details. We will also share the feedback with Lambeth Council. This Open House was a first engagement, and we will be planning further community engagement events in the future. We have now advertised the Senior Service Manager role. We plan to organise a further engagement event once the Senior Service Manager is in post.