Hailsham Town Council continues to take steps to ensure that, through its public open spaces, it maintains environments that support active lifestyles and improve local access to physical exercise facilities.
Health, exercise and wellbeing are essential parts of everyday life and are crucial in terms of leading a healthy lifestyle. Residents can benefit from various recreational and physical exercise opportunities available at the Town Council’s public open spaces, including those at the Western Road Recreation Ground.
In 2020, the recreation ground benefited from the construction of a new all-weather perimeter path (of which the Town Council allocated over £137,000 from Section 106 developer contributions for leisure facilities), giving access around and through the park all year and suitable for walking, cycling and running.
More recently, as part of its continued commitment to improve its parks and open spaces, the Town Council’s project to replace the outdoor gym equipment situated on the recreation ground was completed late last year, part of a wider package of improvements to recreational facilities townwide.
The project was paid for by using the Town Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds and has future-proofed the outdoor gym for the next 10-15 years.
The all-weather outdoor exercise facility is available to use 24 hours a day and was introduced by the Town Council to encourage more residents to take up exercise in the open air and improve their health.
The Town Council also maintains the outdoor gym equipment situated adjacent to the Maurice Thornton Playing Field in the east of the town, a facility which includes exercise equipment opportunities for rowing, steps, arm exercises and weightlifting.
Equipment at both outdoor gym sites conform to strict health and safety guidelines, with regular safety checks being carried out to ensure they are not damaged by vandalism or natural wear and tear, in addition to development work to improve the quality of outdoor gym facilities where necessary.
“Residents can benefit from new improved outdoor gym facilities at two recreation ground sites in Hailsham,” said Assets Management Committee Chair, Cllr Alexa Clark. “The recent upgrade to the Western Road outdoor gym in particular has enabled us to bring the equipment up to optimum standard, offering excellent exercise value for all users.”
“Outdoor gym facilities play a vital role in outdoor recreation, providing residents with an area to exercise, meet friends and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.”
Town Mayor Cllr Paul Holbrook commented: “The Town Council’s outdoor gyms strike a balance between providing stimulating exercise and play with meeting current safety requirements, which is why we pride ourselves in maintaining our facilities to the highest standards and undertaking regular upgrades, inspections, repairs and replacements of equipment and ground surfacing where necessary.”
Terry Hall, Communications Officer
Hailsham Town Council, Market Street, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2AE
Telephone: 01323 841702 | Email: terry.hall@hailsham-tc.gov.uk