The Heath consultation results are in: 81% back a new hard surface, 95% back tree planting. The council says its £150,000 plan needs no major changes.
Petersfield Town Council has published the results of its consultation on the £150,000 plan to repair the worn ground around the Plump Duck café, the playground and the Heath Pond path. It drew 116 responses. The council’s conclusion is one line long: “No major changes are needed to the original project proposal.”
The consultation ran from 2 July to 23 August, after the council quietly pushed the closing date back a week from 16 August. The results went up on the council’s project page on 3 September.
How the five questions split
Residents were asked five yes-or-no questions. Every one of them came back in favour, but not by the same margin. The two questions about surfacing drew by far the most opposition, and the three about planting drew almost none.
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| New tree planting | 95% | 4% |
| New hedgerows and ground cover planting | 94% | 6% |
| Re-establishing grassy areas | 93% | 6% |
| Resurfacing the existing path | 88% | 12% |
| A new hard surface | 81% | 17% |
Those are shares of all 116 respondents, so the missing percentage points in each row are people who skipped that question. The council notes that not everyone answered everything.
One caveat on the figures. The council published these five results as a bar chart with no printed numbers on it, so the percentages above are measured off that chart and are accurate to about a point either way. The council has not published the underlying counts.
What people actually asked for
The three long-form questions are where the detail is, and the council’s summary of them is more pointed than the yes/no split suggests.
On the paths, support for better accessibility was strong, but with conditions. Respondents asked for:
- natural-looking materials
- crushed stone with permeable surfaces
- colours and finishes that blend with the landscape
Several people raised concerns about plastic products breaking down into the environment.
On the planting, the recurring worry was whether new grass would survive at all. Respondents pointed to heavy visitor use, waterfowl grazing, dry summers and the erosion already there. A number suggested tougher grass species, or that creating a different habitat might be better long-term value than trying to hold grass on that ground. Requests for what to plant were specific: native species, drought-tolerant planting, wildflowers, and heathland species such as heather, broom and gorse.
The single strongest message across the whole consultation was about character. The council reports people saying repeatedly that improvements should not urbanise the Heath: that it should stay heathland rather than become a formal town park, that hard landscaping should be limited to where it is genuinely needed, and that open views and wildlife should come first. Alongside that came a list of practical requests: more benches, group seating and picnic tables, more shade, better-designed bins to cut litter and deter rats, and better play equipment.
Comments quoted by the council include “excellent”, “great idea”, “long overdue” and “good use of public money”.
What changes, and what does not
The design stays as drawn. What the council says the feedback has confirmed or altered:
- Path materials: natural and permeable surfaces, confirmed by the feedback.
- Planting: native, wildlife-friendly and climate-resilient species.
- Site furniture and layout: the council says this now needs “greater attention” than the original proposal gave it.
- Protecting new planting: feedback was generally supportive of fencing people and birds out of newly planted areas until they establish.
- Play equipment: comments have been passed to the officers running the separate play area renovation project, which is not part of this scheme.
What happens next, and when
The next stage is a detailed design and specification, then any ecological and technical assessments needed before work could start. Only after that does the scheme get costed properly and the money found.
That money is still not in place. The estimate remains “in the region of £150,000” and the council has never said it is secured. It says it will explore the Community Infrastructure Levy, money paid by developers on local planning permissions, and the National Lottery.
A final proposal, with the consultation findings and detailed costings, then goes to a council committee for approval before anything is built. The council has not said which committee, or when. Its Sports, Recreation and Environment Committee, formerly Grounds, next meets on 15 October, with the following meeting on 17 December. Full Council meets on 24 September, 29 October and 26 November, according to the council’s meetings schedule.
What it means for you
Nothing on the Heath changes this autumn. There is no start date, no contractor and no confirmed funding, and the committee approval that unlocks the work has not been scheduled.
If you responded to the consultation, the answer to the obvious question is that the plan you commented on is the plan going forward. The council has taken the feedback as confirmation rather than as a reason to redraw anything.
If you want to influence the detail, the design stage is the moment, and the committee meetings are public. Every Petersfield Town Council agenda carries a public participation item, and residents can speak for up to three minutes on any subject. You have to give notice to the Town Clerk by 10.30am on the morning of the meeting.
Our earlier report on the plan itself, including the full list of proposed works and the state the council says the ground is in, is here: Petersfield Heath café and play area: £150,000 fix planned. The Heath, the pond and the boat hire are also covered on our things to do in Petersfield page, and the nearest paid parking is listed on our parking in Petersfield page.
Sources
- Petersfield Town Council, Petersfield Heath Amenity Area Restoration Project, consultation results published 3 September 2026
- Petersfield Town Council, Schedule of Committee Meetings May 2026 to April 2027
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