Helping to create a better ‘community cohesion’ in Saltash

Saltmill Park

“The Good Growth Programme has helped us work with young people and create a better kind of community cohesion…” – Chris Barber, Senior Project Officer.

A £23,000 investment from The Good Growth Programme’s Community Levelling Up Fund has seen Saltmill Park revamped.

The project, led by Groundwork South, has redeveloped and improved park facilities to attract new users. It’s also worked to improve health and wellbeing through a youth-led up-skilling and engagement project.

Stuart Dudley, Sports Development Manager, says: “The Good Growth Programme enabled us to invest £23,000 into the refurbishment of the skatepark, enable us to work with the young people in this setting on the fringes of the park, and encouraging them to have a voice.”

Chris Barber, Senior Project Officer, says: “The Good Growth Fund helped us to ensure we had longevity of the skate park. But also, there’s that mental health aspect of being able to come down here with the young people. It’s about making that happen for them. It shows that, actually, they do have a voice and when they air it, stuff happens.

“It’s enabled us to do things we just simply wouldn’t have been able to do, and no one else would have been able to do in the area, because there just wasn’t the potential funding help or support to be able to do it.”

Chris says the project has helped boost community spirit among young people: “The Good Growth Programme has helped us work with young people and create a better kind of community cohesion.

“It’s allowed us to change things, spaces like this, which would never have happened without their intervention or help.”

Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council, says: “We know that Salt Mill Park is a place that the local community are really, really proud of and engages with.”

For more information about Groundwork South visit the website.

This project is made possible thanks to a £23,000 investment from the Good Growth Community Levelling Up Programme, funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.