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 Bourne Valley Park
Bourne
Valley Park in Alderney (formerly known as Alderney Recreation
Ground) is a significant 15 hectare urban open space owned by Borough of
Poole and cared for by the Council's Leisure
Services unit.
Previously covered in football pitches and managed as sports
fields, the site occupies low-lying land
and comprised a variety of habitats including areas of
open grassland, heathland, woodland, ditches and a pond.
The park lies
immediately south east of the Bourne Valley Local Nature
Reserve, a nationally and internationally important
heathland SSSI, SPA, SAC and Ramsar site [more].
Alderney is Poole's
second most densely populated area with 31 people to hectare of
land (the Poole average is 21 people/hectare) and suffers higher
than average levels of poverty, illiteracy, crime and
anti-social behaviour.
Potentially the park
serves the recreational requirements of
9,250 people who live within a 1.2km walk of it.
Three schools fall within the same threshold distance (one
borders the park) attended by more than 1,500 pupils.
In
2003, however, it was rarely used, the football pitches were too
boggy for use and the Pavilion had been abandoned to graffiti
and sporadic vandalism. Dog walkers were plagued by
motorcycle users and the maintenance regime failed to make the
most of what could have been a site of nature conservation
interest.
Since 2004 a number of
Councillors, residents, agencies and other groups have joined
together to improve the quality of life in Alderney.
The Bourne
Stream Partnership is one of those groups, and in 2007 completed
a project to increase use and
enjoyment of the park, while meeting its own objectives.
 It has been the most extensive and exciting project ever undertaken by the Partnership.
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