Children are being urged to share their ideas to transform a Moray park.
Moray Council announced a 10-year vision for Elgin town centre last month which included revamping Cooper Park.
Now, they are calling on young people to help them with the transformation by sharing their dream designs.
The competition asks kids to submit a design showing what they would love to see at the park. They can be hand drawn, computer generated or even a Minecraft model.
What is being changed at the park?
The Elgin masterplan includes upgrading the play park and expanding the skate park. They are also hoping to introduce a new boulder park and sports hub.
The pond will be brought back into use alongside an amphitheater for outdoor performances.
Council leader Graham Leadbitter said: “The Cooper Park redesign is an integral part of the masterplan and lines closely to the cultural proposals. It is vital we get the views and input of individuals both young and old.
“The redesign will play an important part in the lives of young people who use the park to play, take part in sports and socialise. It is important that their voices are heard.”
Mr Leadbitter said it was a great learning opportunity for young people to try using different techniques and methods to illustrate designs.
The competition closes May 31 with the winners being announced in June. You can have your say or find an entry form here.
What do you want to see change in Cooper Park?
We asked some users of the park in Elgin what changes they would like to see.
“Maybe more litter pick-ups, the grass needs cut in some places, and maybe more events and festivals, like the rally that happens, just when things become available.
“I quite like the park as it is so just small changes will do.”
“I’d like to see it being used more for facilities, like nice soft play areas, sports facilities for the kids, the skate park is quite popular so maybe an extension to that to make it more inviting.
“I think the lockdown has made more people use Cooper Park so if we can get more people using it, that would be great.”
“Probably more family areas, like picnic benches away from the children’s play area, that’s pretty much the only thing I’d like to see.
“More places where people can sit, and get some more peace and quiet.”
“I would like to see more facilities for the younger people for a start, they have this skateboarding thing but they need a bit more.
“We’ve lost all the things we had in the birds bit where we could sit and relax, and there’s the big lodge sitting there doing nothing, I know it costs money to do it but that would be the ideal place to put in stuff like ampitheatres or something the public can get into.
“Do something about the fact we’ve lost the cooper park pond and the boating, it’s something that people would love to do, kids would love to do it.
“We need some more amenities in the park, as although the ice cream van comes in, we need more than that.
“The library cafe is shut so it would be good to get some sort of hospitality in.”
“I’d like to see the skate park improved, some of the cracks need touched up, mostly from scooters and metal decks hitting the concrete ruining it.
“A small extension of the park would be great, adding in a street section, there’s a wide variety of skaters that come here and there is nothing really for street skaters.
“The graffiti is not very pleasant to look at, so getting that touched up would be good as well.
“Floodlights would be ideal, that is one thing we’d love the council to look into as well.”
