THE installation of a new £12,000 trim trail at Anstey Park came a step closer to fruition last Wednesday when Alton Town Council’s open spaces committee agreed to approve the implementation of a plan and to award the contract for the work to Sawscapes.

Classified as permitted development under the Part 12 Class A exemption for Town and Parish Council, the project will be fully funded from the Tesco carrier bag scheme, run in November last year to support environmental and greenspace projects and which, thanks to the support of residents, saw the town council’s trim trail take top spot.

Designed for use by adults and younger people but not children, the design is predominately made of wood and the 10 items of equipment on the trail will be located along the southern slope of the 3G pitch and around the netball courts, with sprinting distances between, so as not to impact the aesthetics of the main park.

Having placed the order the aim is for installation to take place at the end of March with a view to opening for use by mid-April.

The installation of the new trim trail will run alongside a project to replace the netball court at Anstey Park at a cost expected to be between £80,000 and £90,000.

The aim would be to start work on the new facility in October with completion in February next year in time for an April opening.

At the meeting, councillors noted a recommendation from town clerk Leah Coney that it would be more cost and resource effective to appoint Hampshire County Council to manage the project, which would bring it under the authority’s framework agreement, thereby negating the need for Alton Town Council to go through a tendering process as this has already been undertaken by the county council which will run a mini-competition among its approved contractors to appoint a chosen supplier/installer.

The cost of appointing Hampshire County Council would be up to 12 per cent of the overall cost of the scheme, and it was thought that the project would be led by Miles Rankin, who had been responsible for project managing the 3G pitch at the football club.

The committee noted that should they improve the implementation plan, Hampshire County Council would undertake an initial site survey in order to create a specification and enable Mrs Coney to submit formal grant applications to the appropriate funding streams in April.

But while councillor Pam Jones felt that this project was “not before time”, other members had reservations as to the overall cost and felt a commitment to proceed could not be given at this stage. They did, however, approve the expenditure of £800 for scoping and site survey work to be undertaken, with a view to making a decision on the implementation plan at the next open spaces committee meeting on April 12.