The Racecourse is approximately 2km from the centre of Northampton and is the biggest single outdoor sports area in Northamptonshire. It is an open space of 49.16 hectares and notably one of the largest landmarks in the town which received its present name when it became a venue for horse racing, albeit unofficially, in 1632. Races were not the only spectator event held on the site; from 1715 until 1818 The Racecourse was used for public executions. Horse racing stopped early in the last century and has since been used as an army camp during both World Wars, as an allotment and as a venue for Jeus Sans Frontiers! Today the site is now the home for one of the country’s largest Balloon Festivals and the park counts many sports pitches, a cricket area, 3 children’s play areas, changing facilities and a centre building presently used for maintenance equipment.

Approximately 32 000 active sports users, 300 000 Balloon Festival visitors and 120 000 passive users make use of this tremendous facility each year. Analysis of the social demographics for the wards surrounding The Racecourse show the most important population by age range, which would impact upon the park based on a walking distance of 800m. The highest percentage within each ward are those aged 21-40 years (39%) and coupled with those aged 8-20 years (11%) and under 8 years (8%) these figures suggest that children’s, young people’s and family facilities and activities are very important. The Racecourse is used by many individuals and families from Black and minority ethnic communities and there is much potential for building upon the richness of this diversity. The Census rank indices of health deprivation and disability show that some of the Super Output Areas within the Castle & St. Crispin wards are between 3% -15% of the most deprived in the country.