Published: Friday, 11th June 2021
A report to Cabinet has highlighted the Council’s success in a partnership funding bid of nearly £200k, for the delivery of a Cannock Chase Wayfinding Project.
The Council in partnership with Together Active, Staffordshire County Council, Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles and Hednesford Town Council have secured £199,050 of funding from Sports England to encourage residents to be more active.
The aim of the project is to connect local communities from Hednesford North to Cannock Chase via the Chase Heritage Trail using community co-designed wayfaring tools, physical infrastructure improvements and engaging digital content.
The project will increase physical activity by easier increased distance walking, increased access to Cannock Chase ANOB and improved mental and physical wellbeing through connection to place and nature.
The route will incorporate rest stops, which will be co-designed through engagement with community groups and will be inspired by the natural beauty of Cannock Chase.
The rest stops will include distance way markers, with embedded digital, interactive, and themed QR codes, to measure increases in distance walked and provide personal fitness targets.
The QR codes will incorporate several wellbeing challenges and goal setting tools for the project.
Councillor Adrienne Fitzgerald, Portfolio Leader for Housing, Heritage & Leisure said “This project will bring great health benefits and encourage engagement with our residents. It will also enhance and improve the already beautiful area we live in, by providing new and accessible trails to increase participation in walking and other activities. It perfectly supports the Council’s health and wellbeing priority.”
“This project will also build on the Council’s legacy objectives linked to hosting the Commonwealth Games mountain biking event in 2022.”
Jackie Brennan, Active Places Manager for Together Active and Project Lead said, “A large part of this project will be to ensure community engagement and co-design from the outset. This will include workshops with local artists, sculptors, historians, and other content creators to design both the interactive themes and digital content but also the rest stops, interpretive signage, and the new lookout platform on the Toc H trail.”
“The project will incorporate a diverse range of interactive content and themes, decided by the community. This may include a variety of challenges for different activity levels and intensities, mindfulness and nature appreciation, children’s adventures, environmental and biodiversity understanding, sites of historic interest and living histories, and creative interpretations such as art, poetry, woodcraft and ceramics.”
Together Active will manage and deliver the project collaboratively with partners. Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles will lead on the community engagement work and Staffordshire County Council’s environment teams will lead on the physical infrastructure improvements.
If successful there may be the opportunity to replicate the work in other areas of the District and connect communities from Rugeley to Cannock Chase.
The project will start in the summer of this year and be completed before the Games start in the Summer of 2022.