Salisbury Rotary members and friends recently visited Salisbury River Park, with Andy Wallis, the Project Lead for this large-scale project with Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council, taking us on a tour of the site.
From what was initially a large area of mud and water during the winter months, the site has now been transformed. Parts of the site are already open to the public and other major parts are due to be open soon, so we were able to identify the key features of the development.
The tour took us from the toilet block by Sainsburys with its fishy decorations, along the river to the coach park with its own decorated toilet block. We passed another piece of imaginative artwork based on dragonfly wings, on our way to the newly widened and re-surfaced Coldharbour Lane and Fisherton recreation ground, including along part of a boardwalk not yet open to the public.
Andy explained that the principal purpose of the project was to reduce the risk of future flooding, but to do it in such a way that would enhance the whole area for the benefit of residents and visitors. The work has also improved the environment for the local fauna and flora, particularly in the river.
After the conclusion of the tour, we visited the Library to see their exhibition of the River Park artwork. The Community Librarian, Philip Tomes, who is an Honorary member of Salisbury Rotary, had kindly arranged for an explanatory talk to be given by their Art Curator, Dr Emily Dunbar, which put much of what we had seen into perspective, and provided a fitting end to the tour.
