Well it looks fantastic and it'll knock on the head the oft-used comment that "there's nowt for t'young uns ter do"
well it will for them within reasonable travelling distance. it's brilliant, but tbf it's still going to be out of reach for plenty. we also need these kinds of facilities in outlier communities, not just town centres.
I've worked all over the county teaching. My colleagues and ex colleagues who've recently been to Barnsley think our town centre is fantastic. Mind you, I've worked mainly in Huddersfield, Donny (currently) and Rotherham. So not much competition.
Work not starting till Autumn, i assume due to the fact Keltbray have part of the land for their compound during the bridge works, i assume that will be done by then(July)
Nicely situated for families on match days to make more of a day of it than just in and out of Oakwell. Drop kids off and into town to do what yer fancy.
You might be onto something there. Khaled has mentioned several times, his vision for what he called 'The Barnsley Way' and creating physical links between town centre and Oakwell. Making huge leaps of imagination here, but maybe his preference is to partner with this for example, instead of investing in an on-site Kids Zone?
Light the new bridge up red and white on match days and also put in new lighting on the underpass like they have done with Market Gate car park. It's the exact same cladding, could also be red and white lighting.
I work on Elland Rd, all the electric boxes have been professionally painted with LUFC historical moments and murals are all over the place. I've noticed our council have done this with electric boxes in the town but decorating these round Oakwell, with BFC moments would be great as well.
Definitely separate projects - 2 other youth work orgs are involved in the levelling up bid project which includes the activity park