Reimagining Brickfields Park
We chose Brickfields Park to become an exemplar park for accessibility for women and girls. We undertook a consultation with young people to understand what they wanted from Brickfields Park, and used the opportunity to work with another charity, Make Space for Girls to understand the needs of teenage girls.
We are over the moon to announce that we have completed a huge round of improvements.
Thank you for your support - we couldn't do it without you.
What's changed...
Thanks to our Reimagining Parks donors and Bath and North East Somerset Council Community Infrastructure Levy, we have been able to realise teenage girls vision for Brickfields.
Our partnership has introduced these incredible new features to the park:
- A five-way swing
- Entrance gateways opened to make them more accessible and welcoming
- A tree trunk social seating and climbing area
- A bespoke figure of eight bench
- Somersault bars
- Reduced height of hedges to improve sightlines
What girls think...
Martha (left) has been involved with all stages of the project, from early big picture thinking, to choosing the locations of the new features. She said:
“It’s been great to connect with the community and the park, and it’s amazing to be able to say, ‘I helped with that!’ I will definitely use the park more now. This whole project has made me want to get out into parks more – it’s nice to know this is waiting for me when I need a break from coursework and exams.”
We can't wait to see teenage girls using the park more.
Next steps...
There is a damaged youth shelter at the top of the park, but it has been out of use for years. Shelter is a big priority for teenagers, dog walkers and other park users.
We have a small amount of our grant left and we want to explore options to bring shelter back to the park through a new consultation in 2025.
If you live near Brickfields Park and have views on a new shelter, get in touch.
Our partners
We stronger when we work together and this project was made possible by the collective action of our partners:
- Make Space for Girls
- Bath and North East Somerset Council - providing £75,089 of funding
- Hayesfield School for Girls
- Stride Treglown
- Reimagining Parks campaign donors
Thank you.
The area
Youth consultation
The Brickfields Park Youth Consultation focused on improving access, safety and usage for 11–19-year-olds. It was carried out in partnership with the University of Bath in November and December 2021, and found that:
- 20% of users estimated between the ages of 9-19 were accompanied by an adult (5 female, 4 male);
- Young people were only observed in the park without peers when accompanied by an adult;
- Males using the park engaged in a much wider range of activities including using the sports facilities;
- Females didn’t use the basketball court or football pitches and primarily engaged in social activities (talking and using phones) while cutting through the park.
The exercise was repeated in July 2022 with charity Make Space for Girls, with a focus on determining the current use of sporting facilities in Brickfields Park.
It found that:
- 89% of users of the basketball courts were teenage males with only 10% of users being teenage females;
- No females of any age used the football pitches;
- Girls walking through from Hayesfield School mostly used benches or the grass to sit and chat, so mostly engaged in social activities;
- Males used the park most weeks, but most females only visited a few times a year;
- 25% of females do not feel safe enough to visit Brickfields Park at all.
Read the full Brickfields Park Youth Consultation report here.