The site at Spring Lane Playing Fields covers around thirty-three acres of land, with a perimeter border of just over 1500m (a metric mile).

The average life expectancy of a male in Erdington is 7.2 years less than their counterparts, just two mile down the road in Sutton Coldfield. In Erdington, coronary heart disease is the main cause of early death with almost 1,656 excess years of life lost, between 2014-2016. (Birmingham Health profile 2019).

Part of the project to develop the community Oasis is to create an all-weather, all access, walking/running path, that can be used for joggers, walkers, dog walkers and wheelchair users. Our ambition is to get the whole community moving!

The track will be 1500m long and 2.5m wide and be an all-weather surface that is durable but soft under foot. The material used is permeable and made from recycled tyres and aggregate, creating a natural looking path to fit in with the environment.

The project aims to bring members of the community together to form, walking, dog walking and running groups for people of all ages and physical abilities.

Around the outer perimeter of the track the users can expect to see the wide variation of animals that frequent the fields, from foxes, muntjac deer, hedgehogs and an array of wild birds, this area will be encourage to grow naturally and be enhanced by introducing other species of local trees and plants.

The inner perimeter of the track will be a newly planted hedgerow. The hedgerow plants have been provided by the Woodland Trust and the Erdington Rotary Club and have been planted by local children. The purpose of the hedgerow is to increase biodiversity on site and also segregate dogs from the playing surfaces they surround.

Planting has started of trees around the inner perimeter, celebrating the lives of people that have helped make Erdington the great place it is. These trees are positioned every 50m to give runners and walkers distance markers as they strive to increase their fitness levels.

The ultimate ambition for the site is to host the Erdington Fun Run/Walk, with the intention of starting in 2023 with a modest distance, increasing year on year as the population of the community gets fitter!

If anyone is interested in forming or joining these clubs, please contact us at [email protected]