Facilities
The Walks are used for many different things. While many of them can be helped by a heritage project, it seems that sports facilities will be reduced unless we act and the kiosk has potential problems to avoid.
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Sports
Is this really visual intrusion?
The current location of the hard courts at the town end of the Red Mount field has been dismissed since early on in the project as a visual intrusion to the setting of the Red Mount Chapel. The picture here was taken while standing at the foot of the Red Mount and shows how little a few rectangles of tarmac and some fences actually intrude. The small rises just in front of the courts distract the eye and there are trees in front of part of it. The worst thing is the reflection from the shiny metal lamppost in front of the church - yet the Council plan adds a shiny metal bridge near the Red Mount.
The plan was to replace this with a hard court and "teenage area" alongside the football club. In the July 2004 plan, that was removed because of disagreement between the council and football club. The stage two bid was submitted with a total loss of hard sports facilities from the Walks.
There is a supplement to the lottery bid, dated October 2004, at the front of the white lever arch file for stage two. This looks purely at "youth activity provision" (p2). It describes Lynnsport, St James, College of West Anglia, North Lynn Discovery, Providence Street, KES, River Lane, Kingsway, Gayton Road (KL Cricket Club) and St John's Church as all being forms of youth activity provision "in close proximity to the Walks". Not all are free and not all are open to all like the Walks. The nearest all-user replacement is Lynnsport and the Council says it "is not so convenient for residents of other parts of the town" (p33, draft King's Lynn Local Transport Plan, June 2005). So let's keep the Walks facilities!
Current Plan
The supplement suggests a new hard court area, probably taken from the recreation ground by St John's Walk, containing: 10m x 8m tarmac, 10m x 2.2m metal kick-wall and 1 basketball hoop. The current courts are larger than 10m x 8m and there is more than one basketball hoop there, so this is a reduction of sports facilities against national government policy, at a time when more sport is supposed to be encouraged and Lynn's Citizen Panel wants more and cheaper facilities.
There is one plus: the new park centre can offer equipment hire, which presumably can be used on the recreation ground. Elsewhere in the park would be a log-based "trim trail" (both on page 6), but there has been a "trim trail" in the Walks in the past and it was removed (source: Civic Society booklet "The Walks"). Why will this one survive?
Unanswered Question
The council still doesn't seem to be considering general sports provision, only a limited form of youth space. Are they following government guideines?
Alternative Plan
Modernised courts - one possibility
Possible view from St John's Walk
Don't remove sports facilities. Ideally, find a way to make the current hard courts less visually intrusive. Perhaps a green surface, green lamp posts and heritage -style fencing could be used. As shown in the edited picture here, this makes them "blend in" when viewed from the Red Mount.
This could also harness the possibility of late-night lit use to help secure the area. If not, find an alternative site for the same size courts and don't remove the current ones until the new ones open.
The council's Community and Culture Panel looked at the sports plan in March 2005, but the plans were too vague for them then. They decided to look at it again once details are published.
The Kiosk
The basic idea of a park centre is a good one. It allows staff to be ever-present on the site and new services to be offered in the Walks. The problems are that the services may conflict with users, the building design may be inappropriate and the building may be insecure.
Services
Appropriate services include visitor information and equipment hire for use in the Walks.
Conflicting services would be things that detract from the health and well-being of the Walks users. A cafe is proposed for the kiosk and a common worry is that the proposed location is next to the new children's play area so that it will be more attractive for a seller of heavily-advertised junk food. We should get conditions put on the cafe to avoid it: King's Lynn residents are already in much worse health than the regional or national averages (says the Office of National Statistics).
Another conflicting use is driving road vehicles to the kiosk along footpaths and cycleways. The number of road vehicles using the Walks is already too high, so the kiosk should either have its own access or deliveries must be from "midget" vans along the quieter routes.
Design
Impression of Original Kiosk Proposal
The Walks is a conservation area and mostly a "no build" zone on the local plans, so any building should be designed to the highest standard and be in keeping with the feeling of the area. The council seems fairly keen to enforce most conservation areas, so it was surprising to see the kiosk design, described by some as a "brick teepee".
This drawing, issued by the council, is from a viewpoint somewhere near the top of one of the trees in the sanctuary which will be cut (see next paragraph). It appears to show the water and St John's Walk converging towards the left of this view (as they do), but it shows the children's play area on the left (town side), while the project masterplan shows it on the right. The tree directly behind the kiosk (shown shaded here) will be removed to allow vehicle access from the footpath. There are no hedges shown on the Feb 2005 plan as immediately next to the kiosk - only along the front and back edges - and the terrace towards the path should have straight edges. This drawing is probably based on an out-of-date plan, but it is still being used in adverts in June 2005.
The original "big top" design shown has been softened a little with no turret and a lower roof, but it is still not ideal. English Heritage still called it "over large and ungainly" and it's not in keeping with the neighbouring buildings. It takes its wall shape from the Red Mount Chapel but it will be in one of the few bits near the centre of the Walks that can't see the chapel, and the plan seems to be to remove trees to create a view between them. Are the trees being damaged to help attract Red Mount visitors to spend money in the kiosk?
Wouldn't it be better to use a different design or put it somewhere within sight of the chapel?
Security
Proposed kiosk location
Some of the design and use decisions could be security problems.
One important consideration is the position of the kiosk. The possible sites are limited by the flood plans. If the kiosk is going to be in the recreation ground half of the Walks, it could be built:
- in the space occupied by the children's play area;
- next to the football ground;
- on a platform near the proposed bridge (currently tarmac);
- by the level crossing entrance.
Possibly the football ground is ruled out by the same problems that prevented the "teenage area" (see sports). The platform would probably be more expensive and it's not clear whether the current tarmac area would support it, although it would be easy to secure.
"The police recommended an edge-of-site location," according to the Stage 2 HLF bid. Clearly, the site by the level crossing meets all criteria.
Instead, the children's play area was chosen. As can be seen in the photograph (taken on a bright summer day), this is a shady corner next to St John's Walk. Ideal for letting children run around away from the hot summer sun, but not good for a cafe to sit outside or a building to secure late at night.
So, the site will be made lighter by felling trees and the building secured with metal shutters and CCTV cameras. Why not put it in a better place to start with? Well, near the children's play area and the junction of two busy paths is probably a better retail location (see services) and maybe that has won over security.