Chelmsford pupils who helped redesign a public area in Central Park have travelled to Westminster to present their work to parliamentarians, highlighting a local initiative that seeks to make green spaces more welcoming to teenage girls and gender-diverse young people.
From classroom consultation to a built feature
The initiative, developed in partnership between Chelmsford City Council, community organisations and young people from The Boswells School, invited teenagers to evaluate how they experience the public realm and to propose changes. Their input directly informed the council’s parks design team, which delivered a new social seating space in Central Park now known as Our Place.
The scheme is led by the council’s community safety team with support from the Parks and Green Spaces department and partner organisations Make Space for Girls and Social Place. It has also been recognised with an Inspire Future Generations Award for its role in empowering young people.
“I was so impressed by this fantastic project, which shows exactly why girls need to be included in the design of the public spaces they use every day,”
The remark was made by Marie Goldman MP for Chelmsford, who invited the student group to share their findings with other Members of Parliament in a drop-in session, aiming to encourage similar programmes in other constituencies.
Local impact and wider potential
Chelmsford’s approach combined direct youth participation with council design work. The students first worked on the project while in Year 9, identifying how they felt about public spaces and presenting proposals to councillors in the Council Chamber. The resulting feature in Central Park provides a tangible example of co-produced public realm improvements.
- Lead partners: Chelmsford City Council community safety team, Parks and Green Spaces, Make Space for Girls, Social Place
- Local school involved: The Boswells School (student group from Year 9)
- Recognitions: Inspire Future Generations Award
| Stage | Action |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Students researched and presented ideas to councillors |
| Following 2024 | Parks team implemented design; Our Place installed in Central Park |
| Recent | Students invited to Parliament to speak to MPs |
For Chelmsford residents this project demonstrates how youth engagement can lead to visible changes in public space provision and how local initiatives can attract national attention. It also serves as a model for councils seeking to include under-represented voices in design processes, particularly where safety, accessibility and feelings of belonging are at stake.
Councillors and council officers will now face the practical task of maintaining momentum: ensuring the new space continues to meet users’ needs, evaluating longer-term outcomes, and assessing whether the approach can be scaled to other parks and neighbourhoods across the city.
