The town council has extended its consultation to Sunday 23 August on a £150,000 plan to resurface the pond path and re-grass the worn ground by the café.

Petersfield Town Council wants to spend in the region of £150,000 repairing the busiest corner of Petersfield Heath, the ground around the Plump Duck café, the playground, the boat hire and the newly refurbished toilets, and its public consultation on the plan is still open: the council has extended the deadline to Sunday 23 August, a week later than the date it originally advertised. The council’s own description of the state of that ground is blunt: compared with photographs from 1999, it says, the area is “in terminal decline”, with “very little grass now left” and an appearance “in many places, akin to a desert”, according to the consultation page on the town council’s website.

The Heath is owned and run by the town council, and this patch by the pond is, in its words, “the most visited area on the Heath, yet it now appears unloved and currently taken for granted”. Two things have done the damage: footfall, which has stripped the sandy soil of grass and compacted the roots of the big specimen trees, and the state of the hard path round the pond edge, which the council says is degraded and, from the main gate, “not suitable for wheelchair or mobility aid users”.

What is proposed

The project has three stated objectives: reduce erosion with a more durable surface, bring back grass and other planting, and make the area usable for wheelchairs, mobility aids and prams. The works set out for consultation are:

  • Resurface the existing path that circles the Heath Pond.
  • A new hard surface around the café and play equipment, chosen to protect tree roots, stop the sand eroding and suit wheeled users.
  • Re-established grass areas, with mesh under the turf to protect roots and hold the grass in place, and temporary split-chestnut paling so the new grass can grow without being eaten by the birds or walked flat.
  • A new hedge and shrubs inside the green areas, for wildlife and to hold the ground together.
  • Tree planting for shade and biodiversity.

The planting list is chosen for the Heath’s dry, acid, sandy soil: hardy acid-tolerant grasses that stand up to trampling and grazing by the Heath’s birds; native hedgerow species such as hawthorn, hazel and field maple, matching the Heath’s other hedges; shrubs “that fit with the character of the Heath such as broom, heathers and gorse”; and drought-resistant native trees such as pine, birch, oak and field maple.

The council is clear about what this is not. Plans to replace some of the children’s play equipment are being drawn up separately and are not part of this proposal, and the toilets are already done: the refurbished block was formally reopened on 19 September 2025 at a cost the council reports as £255,196, on budget, with rainwater flushing, push taps and solar panels.

Panel summarising Petersfield Town Council's Heath amenity area restoration proposal: estimated cost about £150,000, funding not yet secured, five elements (resurfaced pond path, new hard surface round the café and playground, re-grassed areas under mesh with temporary paling, new hedge and shrubs, tree planting), drop-in sessions held 13 and 15 July 2026, consultation closes Sunday 23 August 2026, extended from 16 August, next steps to be published by the council
Graphic by Petersfield Online. Source: Petersfield Town Council consultation page, updated 17 August 2026.
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Who pays, and when

The honest answer from the council is that the money is not yet in place. Its budget estimate for the scheme “as currently drawn” is about £150,000, and it notes the figure could move in either direction: up if street furniture or play features are added, down if volunteers do the planting. It intends to draw on Community Infrastructure Levy receipts, the payments developers make on new housing, and says achieving the funding “is not seen as unrealistic, particularly if the project were to be phased”. It will also look at grants for nature, climate resilience and accessibility work.

There is no start date. The council says responses will be reviewed and its next steps “published in due course”. Two drop-in sessions were held in the Rose Room at the Festival Hall on Monday 13 July (5pm to 8pm) and Wednesday 15 July (10am to 2pm). The written consultation was first advertised as closing on Sunday 16 August; the council updated the page on 17 August and the form now closes on Sunday 23 August.

What it means for you

  • You have until Sunday 23 August to comment. The form is on the consultation page: it asks yes/no on the resurfaced path, the new hard surface, the re-grassed areas, the hedges and ground cover, and the tree planting, with free-text boxes for each. You can also download it and email it to the town council’s ranger at ranger@petersfield-tc.gov.uk.
  • Expect fencing round the new grass if the scheme goes ahead. Split-chestnut paling round freshly seeded areas is temporary by design, but parts of the busiest ground on the Heath would be fenced off while the turf establishes.
  • The play area itself is a separate project. If your interest is the equipment rather than the ground around it, the council says those plans are being developed separately and are not part of this consultation.
  • It is CIL money in part, the same pot fed by new homes in the town. Where those are proposed is on our Petersfield planning page.
  • The Heath is a scheduled monument site, which is why the council is careful about surfaces and vehicles there; our things to do in Petersfield round-up covers the pond, boat hire and the Taro Fair, which the council’s own rule points to 9 to 11 October 2026.