A campaign by young Gypsies in Cornwall for a safe place to play has paid off with the launch of a multi-purpose sports pitch.

The £49,800 project, at Boscarn Parc, near Redruth, is part of a wider revamp of the site. It lies on what was an overgrown field, plagued by fly tipping and used for grazing horses.

The idea for the sports site came from the young Gypsies themselves, who took part in a consultation exercise organised by Cornwall Children’s Trust and identified a safe place to play as their main priority.

With the help of Devon and Cornwall Police and TravellerSpace, which supports Gypsies, Irish Travellers and New Travellers in Cornwall and the South West, they successfully applied to the Community Spaces programme for help.

They were actively involved in the entire bidding process, including making presentations to council officials, visiting other sites for inspiration and helping to organise the launch party.

The £49,800 Community Spaces grant has transformed the site and provided a valuable amenity for all local youngsters as well as the wider community.

To celebrate the completion of the project, a launch party attracted more than 50 visitors, who played five-a-side football, learned circus skills and took part in dance and craft workshops.

A spokesman for TravellerSpace said: “With comments from youngsters including ‘I love it’ and ‘really really really good’ we hope the children have many happy years of playing.

“The young people worked really hard to make their plans a reality. They should be proud of what they have achieved for their community.”

The young people were supported TravellerSpace, Pool School, Devon and Cornwall Police, Cornwall Council and the Eden Project.

To ensure they are creating a project that is needed by local chidlren and young people they recently completed an Easter themed consultation event - their story and some great pictures can be seen at: http://www.thornhams.org/children-and-young-persons-consultation.htm

Some time ago we posted a blog piece about the importance of consultation and asked you all to share your experience and stories. We’d like to thank those of you who shared some great stories and tips, we’re still keen to hear from others, please follow this link to the original post.

Consultations are about taking on board concerns, comments and ideas from local people – both young and old – and ensuring that you are listening to what they say before you start your project.

Consultations are a key requirement of Community Spaces projects. We want to fund projects that have engaged local people, which tell us what local people have said and show how the feedback has been incorporated into plans for the project.

Many groups struggle with consultation and aren’t sure how best to go about involving the wider community – other groups are ‘pros’ at this and use creative and fun ways to engage local people!

Tell us what you know about consultation

We’d like groups to share what they know about consultation with us here… Let us know how you have tackled consultation and share any useful hints & tips you have.

We’d also like to hear from those of you that might be struggling with this, what are you finding difficult? What questions would you like answered?