It's time to vote on new gym design for Sidmouth

East Devon District Council (EDDC) and Sidmouth Town Council have been busy working together to provide residents of Sidmouth with the free-to-use outdoor gym that they want.

And now they would like people of all ages who live in the parish of Sidmouth (which includes Sidbury, Sidford and Salcombe Regis) to decide how it should look by voting for the design they like best.

The voting event will be held during the Sidmouth Armed Forces Day Fete on Saturday, 28 June between 2pm to 4pm. The fete is being held on The Ham at the eastern end of Sidmouth esplanade.

You will be able to see all three proposed designs and vote on which one you want to see installed. The design that gets the most votes will be delivered, so go along and have your say!

The outdoor gym facility has been proposed and chosen by the local community. Earlier in the year, EDDC and Sidmouth Town Council asked community groups, residents and other organisations to put forward their ideas as to how £150,000 of the sports funding accumulated from recent Sidmouth housing developments (Section 106 money) should be spent.

These ideas were then taken out to residents and they got to vote on which ones they wanted to happen in Sidmouth. One of the winning ideas was to spend £15,000 on free-to-use outdoor gym facilities.

A working group from Sidmouth Town Council then decided the £15,000 of gym equipment will be best placed clustered together in the Stowford area, on green space almost opposite the Stowford Community Centre.

Councillor Iain Chubb, EDDC’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We are committed to making sure that local people have their say about where money from developments in their parish gets spent, and are one of the few local authorities that do so. This is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Sidmouth to really make a difference by deciding which outdoor gym they get, after they voted for an outdoor gym to happen.”