Thank you to the 245 local residents who completed our recent survey. We wanted to know about your use of our green spaces and how you envisage them improving.
Our respondents were regular visitors to the areas we are asking about - Earlswood Common, Redhill Common, Felland Copse, New Pond Farm, Furzefield Copse and Lonesome Lane Rec. A third (33.8%) of our respondents visit mainly to walk a dog.
We had a huge volume of ideas from our 245 respondents about "What would make you more likely to visit?" This was free text which we have grouped into themes.
33 respondents said paths being less muddy (including better for buggies and wheelchairs).
21 mentioned children’s play areas and trails - mostly envisaging a natural wood climbing trail, and several asked for nature or spotting trails
11 wanted it to be quieter, especially around the Earlswood Common lakes.
6 raised concerns not to have the proposed crematorium built on New Pond Farm land.
6 were satisfied as the spaces are.
10 required better weather to get out more - as well as various mentions of too much work!.
10 wanted less dog mess (including bagged) and 10 wanted less dogs, dogs to be separated or on leads (and those in both counts were only 2).
7 mentioned wanting more biodiversity and more natural than currently, eg with more wild flowers.
4 raised a wish for separate cycle tracks.
Parking issues / too many cars at Earlswood Common was an issue for 7 respondents.
Pedestrian access was raised, by one respondent about access from the A23, Asylum Arch Road, and one respondent accessing from Lonesome Lane (in order to avoid walking a stretch with no path).
Disabled access concerns included a request for seating, parking, and level access paths.
A respondent suggested making the green spaces easier to navigate, eg having circular walks. Another suggested erecting more information boards.
We asked "How interested are you in there being a cycle track (or two) across the commons to improve the cycle network?".
The 'extremely' to 'somewhat' interested categories totaled 152 - which is 62% of the 245 respondents. There were some additional comments stating that having separate tracks from pedestrians was preferable or safer.
The positivity of the response to question 6 (right) was very encouraging - although we are not assuming our respondents are a representative cross section of local residents!
We asked "How interested are you in taking part in conservation sessions...", part of the remit of Wild Earlswood.
31 respondents were 'extremely interested'
61 were 'very interested'
91 were 'somewhat interested'.
Let's turn this interest into a reality!
We asked about the appeal of the following activities and asked for other suggestions.
135 respondents were interested in nature guided walks,
160 specifically in bat/bird walks
150 in litter picking
80 on children's activities on a stall
110 on conservation skills session
12 none of the above.
Additional ideas from free text included photography days, specific tree planting, butterflies, bees and mushrooms, history of the area, nature craft, a sculpture trail, orienteering, clearing the pond in Redhill Common to preserve it, forest school sessions, linking to the YMCA and Walking for Health walks occurring in the area.