Campbell Park Parish Council

21/04/08 — published by Mikki Thomas

Campbell Park Parish is one of the largest in the City with over 6,000 homes and over 10,000 residents.  It stretches from Willen on the east to Winterhill on the west with the larger estates of Fishermead and Oldbrook in the centre.  Being just south of the city centre, Campbell Park residents enjoy the benefits of living close to the shops, places of entertainment, and businesses found there.

Within the Parish itself are a range of small shops with general stores, numerous food outlets including specialist foods, a variety of pubs old and new, chemists, a dry cleaners and post offices.  Sadly the post office at Willen has closed recently but the Parish Council is working hard with Milton Keynes Council and others to try to reverse this.

Larger businesses are located in the west of the Parish at Winterhill and include D-I-Y outlets, furniture stores, computing and IT specialists, alongside storage and distribution centres.  There is also the prestigious Winter Hill Conference Centre on that estate.

Leisure activities in the Parish include Willen Lake itself with all the associated activities that happen on and around the lake.  Also in the Parish are Gullivers, the Eco Park and the David Lloyd Health Club.  A major feature is Campbell Park itself which serves the whole city.

The Parish is well-served with schools. There are 6 in the parish itself with older children travelling to neighbouring schools.   The new Academy being built at Woughton will benefit Campbell Park residents.

The population of Campbell Park is very diverse in age, culture and ethnicity.  There are active children's groups both pre-school and after school, with equally active homes for the older members of the population.  The Parish Council recently entered into a partnership arrangement with Age Concern to assist our valued older residents.

Over twenty languages are spoken within the Parish with a significant number of residents for whom English is not their first language.   Support groups include the Christian Centre, Chinese Centre, Fishermead Academy, Pebbles Sure Start plus many others.

Campbell Park Parish Council is very active in the community.  Having had 8 vacant seats on the Council for several months, earlier this year they returned to full strength with 20 Councillors including, particularly, new Councillors for Willen, Woolstone, Springfield and Campbell Park.  The Parish Council has recently completed a survey of all residents in which they were asked a series of questions about life in the Parish, issues and aspirations for the future.  There was a good response to the survey and the mass of information gathered is now being analysed.

The Parish Council has an office at 1 Pencarrow Place, Fishermead. Residents are encouraged to drop in or telephone with any issues they have.   Residents who live and work within the Parish receive a copy of the Council's quarterly magazine.

The Parish Council also recently held a public Parish Meeting at which Pete Winkleman was the guest speaker.  After hearing from Pete the members of the public stayed on to talk directly to Parish Council Members and staff about what is important to them.  The Council followed this by an "away day" of Councillors and staff to look at the issues raised and to start to develop their business plan for the next few years.