The ritual email to the Council elicits the facts that plans have been drawn up for a 10 lane terrain in Greenhead Park (and also a 6 lane terrain in Mirfield in Memorial Park). No dates for starting the works as they have to be fitted in among other things ( not my words.)
5th post
St Patrick’s day
No written exchanges for some time but met an officer from Parks Dept and she assured me that plans had been drawn up for Greenhead Park. Still all very vague but at least we’re talking to each other. For info Heckmondwike now has an extension with room for 8 large or 10 small pistes and Mirfield has had plans drawn up but no-one’s seen them either. I’ll ask this week to have a peek.
4th post
Some progress. We’ve sent an email to KMC explaining how a petanque club works. They asked us. Apparently Friends of Greenhead park wanted to know. I’ve also heard that the ward councillors are still keen and want it done by the end of this year. More news later.
Third post
No post in December because my regular email to KMC contacts asking about progress didn’t help much. The designer who we met in September hasn’t got much further; the councillor who was very keen a while ago has plenty of more important work to do and there’s no guaranteed funding. Furthermore the Friends of Greenhead Park who were consulted about the project were not as keen as expected.
The basic reply said “would you like to apply for funding” which is OK and I said let’s meet and talk about this but nothing has happened since then. The Heckmondwike model was “build the terrain then once people saw it the club grew like wildfire”. Starting with nothing is going to be much harder.
I’ll send my mid month email later today and report back.
Second Post
Progress is slow as with many projects like this but Kirklees Council is consulting with stakeholders including yours truly (the potential Huddersfield Petanque Club) and initial thoughts on the terrain were “let’s have a large area sufficient for 10 games simultaneously” which should support a club of over 40 members. HPC also asked for toilets and cups of tea and these are already on site at the first choice location plus handy parking and this is available locally.
When a first design sketch is available we hope to bring it to you through this blog. In the meantime have a look at http://www.heckmondwikepc.co.uk
Huddersfield Pétanque 