UDP Part 1 : Strategic Overview - Recreation & Leisure
Unitary Development Plan
Chapter 2
Strategic Overview Recreation & Leisure
Key
| 2.24 | There is a well documented national trend towards involvement by more people, more often, in a wider range of recreational activities. Government sponsored agencies have a general wish to foster the development of sport and physical recreation and to provide greater opportunities for participation, particularly by disadvantaged groups, and to promote the planned provision of sport and recreation on a regional basis. |
| 2.25 | Until the onset of the current recession, leisure and tourism was one of the country's fastest growing industries and can contribute to a local economy both through increased spending in the area and creation of additional employment. More leisure time is being given over to visiting other places and through the 1980's increases were occurring in day trips, short breaks, conferences and visiting friends and relatives. The number of 25 - 59 year olds is expected to rise in Tameside over during the 1990's, as in many other areas, focusing more attention on health related fitness, informal countryside activities and sports suited to the needs of an older population. |
| 2.26 | The early pattern of recreation provision in the Tameside area was based on public parks, of which there are now 19 in the Borough including Stamford Park registered by English Heritage as of special interest, and swimming baths, of which there are six including the modern leisure pool in Hyde. A much wider range of indoor and outdoor sports and recreational activities are now catered for, mainly but not entirely in Council run facilities, and there is a generally good spread of public halls, libraries and community centres across the various towns, plus a smaller number of museums, cinemas and theatres. |
| 2.27 | However, playing pitch provision is well below accepted national standards and the distribution and condition of children's play areas is variable. At the same time, pressure has grown over the last few years for development of urban open spaces and recreation land may in some cases be felt to be under threat. |
| 2.28 | Informal recreation opportunities of wide value are provided by the canal network in the Borough, which has its focal point at Portland Basin in Ashton where a heritage centre has been opened and potential exists for further leisure related development. The Ashton and the Peak Forest Canals are navigable and form part of the Cheshire Ring, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal is under active restoration, and whilst the Hollinwood Branch Canal is abandoned, its course is utilised for walking and nature conservation. The canal network is seen not only as a leisure resource but also as a stimulus to regeneration of the older urban areas through which it runs. |
| 2.29 | There is also extensive although not fully developed access to the mostly attractive countryside which covers around half of the Borough. This ranges from narrow wooded cloughs to high, open moorland. Informal recreation opportunities are available particularly in the valleys of the rivers Tame, Medlock and Etherow, where much has been done in the last 20 years to provide footpaths, picnic areas etc. in an enhanced environment. There are established and popular country parks at Werneth Low in Hyde and Daisy Nook in Ashton, and at the recently designated Stalybridge Country Park on sites at both Millbrook and Carrbrook. In some other instances, work could be undertaken to increase leisure use which would also help to improve the appearance of parts of the urban fringe. |
| 2.30 | Whilst Tameside appears to be reasonably well provided with many of the recreation facilities of more local interest, larger scale leisure and entertainment projects such as are under way or proposed in other parts of Greater Manchester and the North West have not found their way to the Borough. Some increase in enquiries and proposals for new hotels was evident in the last few years up to the current recession, but the area remains well below its expected level of hotel bed spaces. The restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and other canal, heritage and countryside themes have the potential in time to boost tourism as part of the overall attraction of the Greater Manchester area, but at present the area does not benefit to any appreciable extent from visitor spending. |
Page last updated: 5 September 2006