R4U excited as the new playground and other works on Saffron Walden Common nears completion

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Residents For Uttlesford is delighted with the refurbishment of The Common under its leadership at Saffron Walden Town Council, including new paths, benches, clearing of cars from Common Hill West, landscaping, new trees, a water fountain, and a brand new playground.

Paul Gadd (R4U) Paul Gadd (R4U)

R4U’s Cllr Paul Gadd, Leader at Saffron Walden Town Council said “Over the last four years we’ve set in place a programme of renewal and refurbishment of many of our town’s assets. The Common is one of the centre-pieces of our town so we’re delighted with the results. Many residents will have already appreciated our new multi-function paths along the bottom and up the town side, both of which are heavily used. What residents may not have noticed is that we’ve also removed parking on the grass between the road and houses on Common Hill West and are busy re-landscaping that area. The main diagonal footpath should soon be replaced and widened to make it much more attractive. On the main part of The Common we’ve also added new benches, and planted many trees.”


Common refurbishment Top Left clockwise – New benches; R4U’s Paul Gadd planting trees; re-landscaped Common Hill; new paths along the bottom and side along Common Hill. Centre – new playground

Cllr Paul Gadd continued “We’re most excited and proud of the new playground which will open shortly and is part funded by £30k of grants. In 2017 we won awards for the maintenance of many of our playgrounds, but the Common one had reached the end of its life. Feedback from parents has helped us redesign it to provide a range of new outdoor activities to get children away from their screens as well as the first disability enabled equipment. We’ve also added a fountain for people to refill their water-bottles. It is fantastic to watch kids excitedly pointing through the fences showing their parents what’s coming. We can’t wait for it to open in a couple of weeks! The Common hasn’t looked this good in years.”


The all new playground includes range of new outdoor activities for children and features disability enabled equipment.

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About Residents for Uttlesford

Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) is the local independent party of north-west Essex towns and villages. It believes that on local issues residents should decide, not Westminster parties. R4U’s success has been based on the desire to give local people a voice and implement long range strategic and sustainable plans for where they live. It has turned around both councils it has been elected to lead to make them now multi award-winning.

R4U leads Uttlesford District Council (UDC). In its first election in 2015 it became the second party at UDC. In May 2019, it gained majority control of the authority by inflicting the biggest loss of seats on any Conservative controlled council in the UK. In May 2023, R4U retained control of UDC.

R4U also leads Saffron Walden Town Council, where under its stewardship the council since 2015 it has rebuilt finances, invested in community assets, and won multiple awards, including the best run council in Essex.

Residents for Uttlesford can be found on the web at www.residents4u.org.

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