The Wyshe Play Area

We’re excited to let you know that improvement works to the play area will begin the week of 23 March. To keep everyone safe while the team is on site, the whole area will be fenced off during the works, which are expected to take around six weeks.

An MSDC officer and the contractor will be at the play area on Monday 16 March, 3–4pm. If you’d like to find out more about what’s planned, or just pop over for a friendly chat, please do come and say hi — we’d love to meet you!

Thank you for your patience while we make these upgrades happen.

A large pile of cut vegetation was removed from the Wyshe Play Area last week as part of the preparations for the upcoming playground improvements. Following advice from a local wildlife rescue centre, our contractor removed the material carefully and by hand.

A box lined with a towel was kept nearby, along with the contact number for the wildlife rescue centre, in case any protected wildlife was found. A Mid Sussex District Council officer supervised the work throughout, and no protected wildlife was disturbed.

A dead tree in the eastern boundary was also removed on health and safety grounds, before the bird nesting season, which has the added benefit of opening up views across the South Downs.

Work is continuing behind the scenes to ensure that the improvements can begin very soon.

We are pleased to share some exciting news about the play area improvement project. In December, the project was awarded £75,000 in funding from the Veolia Environmental Trust. We apologise for the delay in sharing this update — we needed to ensure all details of the funding agreement were finalised before making the announcement public.

We’re happy to confirm that the funding agreement has now been signed, allowing us to move forward.

This funding will enable us to deliver the full set of improvements designed by our specialist play supplier. The upgrades will significantly improve accessibility and include:

• New swings
• A climbing frame with slide
• A table tennis table
• Additional seating within the play area
• A basketball hoop for informal shooting practice

You can see the plan in the Designs section.

We will be meeting with the supplier this week to agree on a project timeframe and discuss how works can be carried out with minimal disruption to residents and to the protected landscape.

There will be the opportunity for you to meet with the designers and contractor to talk through plans before work starts. We will communicate this date shortly.

Don’t forget to subscribe to receive direct updates of key milestones.

Mid Sussex District Council has recently submitted a funding application to Veolia Grants to support the upgrades to the play area. We understand that Veolia Grants are highly competitive, with only 30–40% of applications typically being successful.

A successful outcome for funding will enable us to enhance the play facilities, improve accessibility, and install new picnic tables and seating, while preserving the unique natural landscape surrounding the area. Should the application be unsuccessful, we will be able to deliver essential upgrades, which will ensure the space remains safe and usable.

A decision on funding from Veolia Grants is expected to be made on 2 December 2025 and will provide an update once we receive the outcome of our application.

We’ve now selected a supplier to work with on our funding application to the Veolia Community Grants scheme. You can view their proposed design in the Documents section.

We believe this design reflects what we heard from you during the public consultation—while also respecting the environment and the unique character of this special landscape.

We’d love to hear from you to help explain to the Veolia Grants Panel, why Pyecombe deserves their investment. Your support can help improve our chances of being awarded funding for this project. If you’d like to help, drop us an email to parksopenspaces@midsussex.gov.uk explaining why you support this project and the value you think it will bring, before 1st October. Don’t forget to subscribe to this page to be kept informed.

We’ve been busy behind the scenes developing a design and preparing a funding application. As well as liaising with Natural England (to make sure we don’t cause harm to the special landscape around the play area) we have been talking to play companies about what we could do if we were to be awarded grant funding.

We drew a plan (which you can see in the Documents section) which reflects what we heard from you through the public consultation. We sent this to play equipment suppliers and have asked for their suggestions for equipment that meets our design brief.

We are evaluating the designs now and will use the best one to apply for funding from Veolia Community Grants in October.

We’d love to hear from you to help explain to the Veolia Grants Panel, why Pyecombe deserves their investment. Your support can help improve our chances of being awarded funding for this project. If you’d like to help, drop us an email to parksopenspaces@midsussex.gov.uk explaining why you support this project and the value you think it will bring, before 29^th September. Don’t forget to subscribe to this page to be kept informed.

Thank you to the 36 people who shared their views on the play area at the Wyshe. 81% of you said you would like us to develop a plan to try and get more funding.

We asked what you would like to be able to do at the Wyshe and what your top priorities for improvement were. We heard that people want to be able to socialise and have a picnic whilst their children climb and play on the swings. People told us they want the space to be fun for kids of all ages, from very young children to teenagers.

We are using these responses to develop a design within the limits of the potential available funding.

We also need to consider the environment and biodiversity to meet the rules of Natural England who monitor the SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest)

We are aiming to have a funding application ready to apply in Autumn 2025.