Grass damaged by ice rink in Lower Gardens

The annual Winter Wonderland was another roaring success for Bournemouth with nearly 600,000 people visiting the lights, Christmas market and SKATE ice rink.

Footfall was up threefold from the beginning of November, officials say, and over the busiest weekends, Christmas Tree Wonderland welcomed more than 32,000 people to the Lower Gardens.

Grass damage at Lower Gardens

However all of this traffic and the huge outdoor ice rink has left the grass in Lower Gardens damaged, though BCP Council has confirmed this will be remedied quickly.

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “The grass at the area of the lower gardens in Bournemouth, where the outdoor ice rink was positioned for the Winter Wonderland event, has suffered damage which is normal.

"Where we have had this event in the past, the Parks team has carried out excellent work in restoring the ground each year.

“This area of grass has had additional time to recover due to the fact there was no such structures positioned there in 2020.”

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Once the SKATE ice rink structure has been completely removed the council’s parks and events teams will inspect the site and draw up a plan to remedy the affected grass areas.

The spokesperson for BCP Council said: “We will inspect the area once all the equipment and temporary structures for the ice rink have been removed by the contractor. Officers from the Parks and Events departments will then inspect the site in full and consider works to reinstate the area. The cost of remedial work to improve the area is covered by the contractor.”