Recreation Update

News: 07.12.22

The Parish Council has invested approximately £40,000 in the refurbishment of the playground at Riseley, which has in part been funded by development money from Dukes Meadow, with the rest coming from Parish Council reserves.

Playgrounds are very expensive things and we have worked hard to ensure value for money. We do hope that you enjoy the new playground and if there are any teething issues, please do contact us.

May we thank those residents who completed the Riseley Playground survey at the start of the project, to allow us to hopefully deliver much of what you wanted, namely mud free play and some new equipment.

Over time, and particularly since the relocation of Farley Hill School, we have received questions from local residents concerned about the future of the King George V Playing Fields in Farley Hill. Especially as to whether the fields might be built on in time. Across the country, there is a total of 506 King George V Playing Fields, established and protected and held in trust in memory of HM King George V. As such, they are protected, to ensure that they will always be there for communities as places for sport, nature and play. This does mean that, unlike in Swallowfield and Riseley, the site and playground are not owned by the Parish Council. Instead, they are the responsibility of Wokingham Borough Council, who we continue to engage with on the subject.

In the New Year, we plan to conduct a survey of residents, to listen to your ideas and to understand what you would like from our play and recreation areas. These will feed into our future planning and budgeting as much as possible.

Cllr Laura Edmonds, Recreation Lead