Special shelters will soon be installed at The Moatfield in Bushey, Furzefield in Potters Bar and Phillimore Recreation Ground in Radlett.

It had been hoped that the shelters would be ready by the end of January but problems with sourcing materials have meant that the timetable has slipped slightly.  Councillor Brenda Batten, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Health, explained: "Since the designs were agreed the price of steel has increased and therefore we have agreed to slightly change some of the materials in order to keep the project in budget.  This has caused a minor delay."

Arts and environment organisation Green Heart Partnership is leading the project and has advised the shelters will be in place by April.

The unique structures have been designed so the whole community can use them and have been funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Furzefield Park is a unique site which sits is at the back of the Furzefield Leisure Centre.  It consists of King George V playing field, Furzefield woods, an ancient woodlands and a meadow area, which Potters Bar Brook runs through.

Furzefield Wood and Meadow was designated a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) by Hertsmere Borough Council in September 1998. The playing fields unique features are three mature oak trees. These run in a line and are the remains of an old hedgerow.

Unlike the other parks in the Hertsmere Community Spaces project this park is not surrounded by an immediate community and only has houses on the east side. On the south side is the leisure centre and car park. However the leisure centre does not face the park and turns away from it which creates an unusual relationship with the leisure centre and hides the park from the road. On the west side of the park there are open fields which are viewed openly from the raised platform of land directly behind the leisure centre.

Existing provisions at Furzefield:

• Skateboard Park east of the leisure centre
• Out-door sport facilities - Multi-use games area
• Football pitches
• Childrens play equipment area west of the leisure centre.

Within the playing fields are a number of football pitches and a skateboard park.  The skateboard park attracts many users and is in constant use - however it can have a dominating effect within the park.  
The skateboard park has been recently expanded and part of the Hertsmere Community Spaces brief was to provide another provision for other park users.

At present there is no shelter for the park and in bad weather users of the park take shelter in the balcony area on the east side of the leisure centre. However, due to future developments this will not be available.  Please note that for future developments on the leisure centre it would be worth to consider allowing the leisure center to face the park and embrace it - not only would this give beautiful views it would help with security as the park would be over looked. Furthermore it would make people aware of the park and add value to the space. The future development on the balcony and considered café area could be an opportunity to allow this to happen.  Other places that are used in bad weather for shelter is the younger childrens play area at the western side of the centre.

Location for the shelter

The shelter will positioned along the line of oak trees and the old hedge row to become a new landmark. Care must be taken that it is not hidden from the surrounding CCTV network by the existing trees and typography of the land

Key considerations for the positioning of the shelter:

• Away from skate park to allow other users to use it BUT still within distance of existing CCTV
• Close to the skate park to allow users and spectators to use it in bad weather
• Away from immediate houses
• Easily accessible to the community police from the car park
• Lies in the line of the old hedgerow line linking with the heritage of the site
• Works with the topography of the land

Access to the park
For local users the park is accessed by the side entrances. The central entrance is used by people arriving by car - this is usually visitors to the skate park. A number of these visitors are first time users.

Dog walkers - one main user group tends to enter the park by the side entrances and walk around the edge of the park denoted by the yellow dashed line on map.
If crossing the park, the dog walkers tend not go near the leisure centre but cross between the two trees denoted by the smaller yellow dotted line.

Sight Lines
Sight lines from other areas in the park are numbered in the map above as follows:

1. Play area
2. Skate Park
3. Wood exits