Like many councils around the country, the Parish Council is considering installing outdoor gym equipment in the village to improve the health and fitness of residents.
The equipment is expected to cost in the region of £7,000 and would be funded by some of the CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) money received by the council from the Wessex Way development. It may also be possible to offset some of the cost with grants.
There is no expectation that the equipment will be used by everyone, but it needs to be used by enough people to justify the expenditure. The Council is therefore keen to know how many might use it.
Please comment below if you think you might use outdoor gym equipment if it was installed.
I often see this sort of equipment sitting dormant in most areas, I feel like the money could be better spent on say improving the terrible playground offering on Wessex way!
There are three such installations in Edmunds Park Didcot. I have walked my dogs there since they were installed years ago and they are hardly ever used (if at all). So I would say that there are probably more beneficial ways to spend the money.
I don’t see them being used elsewhere. The monies could help with the winter fuel payments to local villagers who will miss out or spent elsewhere on far more beneficial causes I am sure
A good idea if they were part of a club who would use them regularly otherwise I think they may just sit there.
I would personally make use of such equipment especially in the winter when I am still keen on being outside exercising but find the trails too waterlogged. I am more partial to calisthenics stations (pull-up bars, monkey bars, dip bars etc) that offer more variety as opposed to mechanical equipment (cycles, ellipticals) which I am under the impression require more maintenance and are not as easy on the eye either.
I understand the chicken and egg situation here; build it and they will come or come and we will build it. Whilst there is no club, any outdoor group exercising that I have at least taken part in around the village has primarily involved running-which is potentially less social and appealing than being able to do more varied exercise catering to mixed abilities in a fixed location close to home.
This would be a waste of money.These outdoor gym areas are features in many London suburban parks. Over the last 8 years whenever walking in them they have always been unused, despite the large potential user . People join gyms or run on our footpaths. If installed there might be a few village users in good weather who are already fit, and then the novelty would wear off.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on this proposal which I fully support (and would use). Witt the planned improvement of the children play area, I feel this would be a facility for adults.
This is a great idea – I have used the stations at Crowmarsh, Brightwell and Cholsey – they are a great facility to have and at a relatively low cost point.
I know I would use them independently, as I am sure would others – but wonder if there would be interest for a community-based use case (some kind of village circuit training, for example) to ensure folks are comfortable using the equipment and get the social element driving usage too.
I’m sure most people would agree that the playground on Wessex Way is poorly equipped, however, the equipment was installed by the developer Elivia Homes, paid for indirectly by the residents of Wessex Way and is now the responsibility of a management company HML. The Parish Council are unfortunately unable to improve the equipment or spend money on it because it sits on private land owned by HML; even though Wessex Way residents pay council tax precept to the parish council as well as management fees to HML.
Similarly the parish council are unable to spend Council Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money on winter fuel payments, or road repairs which are a County Council responsibility.
I think the outdoor gym equipment would be a great community asset, particularly if placed near the children’s play area at Bodkins, as adults could exercise while their children play safely nearby. I’ve seen this operate very successfully at the play park in Wallingford (Crowmarsh Gifford).
I think that this type of outdoor gym can be a good resource for a village. However, i think it’s important to also ask residents which type of equipment they think they would use rather than just getting a generic set as they are not always used..
Total waste of money ,in my opinion ,money that should be spent on something worth while,we are surrounded by fields if you want go exercise go for a walk ,I don’t understand with the council who plead poverty when it comes to fixing the roads ,pavements etc !
I think that this would be used about as often as the “Pump” track is used – seldom if ever. As others have stated better use could be made of this money – e.g. maintaining the existing footpaths so that they are usable throughout the year.
I agree with the comments from Robert Calcutt – it seems a lot of money to be spent for equipment that is likely to be little used. Money could be better spent on other village facilities (e.g. Kitchen, Audio, Video equipment for the new Village Hall) and maybe existing village organisations/groups.