As acting chair of Cwmdonkin Park and longstanding Uplands resident, I met with John Sayce of Uplands Living Streets, and Rob Humphreys, another longstanding Uplands resident, in a socially distanced meeting in Cwmdonkin Park on Wednesday 29 July. It was good to see that the park was being well used that day (all the tennis courts were in play) – as the park does seem to have been well used throughout the corona virus restriction period. Mostly, with some unfortunate exceptions, in a responsible way in accordance with Welsh Government guidelines.
We agreed that Uplands residents are very lucky to have such a lovely historic park in our area – as well as all the other green parks and open spaces nearby, including Brynmill Park, Singleton Park, St James Park and the Hillside Wildlife Corridor. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss possible low cost ways of linking these parks and spaces for walkers and possibly cyclists, to provide green routes to and from Uplands.
One possibility considered worth exploring would be to make The Grove more pedestrian friendly, without loss of parking spaces, by making the western carriageway (which is currently one-way) a two-way street for motor vehicles. Other proposals discussed include the newly agreed path from the old Townhill campus to Penlan Crescent (just above Cwmdonkin Park) and possible further connections between Hillside Wildlife Corridor and Uplands/Ffynone. It was agreed that all were worth exploring and that further discussions would take place. And although Friends of Cwmdonkin Park is not a pressure group, it is very much part of our mission to support anything which could potentially enhance the park and its responsible use.
Hedley Austin, Acting Chair, Friends of Cwmdonkin Park