Bartley Water runs throughout our town, and is enjoyed by many residents who live nearby and enjoy the wildlife and green spaces of the land surrounding the water.
Bartley Water currently doesn’t have a status as a conservation area, and this is something we are proposing as part of our Neighbourhood Plan. One of the most important protections that this would give us is over pollution – giving us greater powers to restrict companies and individuals who pollute the water, causing great harm to the wildlife that live there.
We would also be able to do greater work on connecting up the various sections of the Bartley Water, creating longer walking routes that can be used for leisure, or to help residents get to another area of the town.
The parks in the centre of the town can be improved to better suit their central location where we are conscious of the needs of visitors to the town and annual events.
Testvale/Memorial park could be made larger and designed to be better connected to the precinct. There are already a number of annual events which happen in the centre of town, and it would be extremely beneficial for us to have an area which could be used for outdoor performances and which can facilitate larger gatherings.
The new conservation status of Bartley Water will help bring much needed improvements to the areas which support Rumbridge Street, and Eling Wharf. New accessible walkways can improve access and extend the already much-enjoyed board walks which begin at the Tide Mill – improving our amenity offering to visitors to our heritage centre.
Improving the parks across the town
We have highlighted parks across the town which need infrastructure improvements to walking and cycling paths, as well as seating areas.
We are also proposing that trees and re-wilding becomes a large part of our public spaces, reflecting our status as a New Forest town, and our commitment as a town to be part of positive action on climate change.
