welcome roundabout public art commission

Living in a connected community within the natural environment will help nurture cultural wellbeing. This is our underpinning cultural objective for the new neighbourhoods being shaped at the Former Wisley Airfield, Ockham.

Our cultural vision is inspired by the innovators and pioneers that lived in the area through the last centuries. We know that to live well now and in the future means finding ways to live sustainably for the health of both people and the planet.

We will build on the history of the beautiful parkland across Surrey and the site’s surrounding commons and heathland. The existing Ockham community will expand through new neighbourhoods set in the landscape.

It is well understood that living in close proximity to nature is hugely positive for health and wellbeing. Our objective is for culture and creativity to play a key role in how this is experienced and the benefits this will bring to people living here.

Cultural Wellbeing is a core principle in the National Planning Policy Framework and there is a fast growing body of evidence that creativity and the arts make a significant difference to people’s health and wellbeing, and to how they feel about, and interact with, their neighbours. We know that creativity is good for us and according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, over three quarters of us take part in the arts each year.

We want to ensure that access to culture and ways to be creative are carefully considered and planned for at Stratford View, Upper Ockham and Upton End, so that community culture can flourish and evolve over time.