'Forgotten' Northwood Park needs £116,000 investment
A CITY park will need more than £116,000 spending on it to bring it up to scratch, it has been revealed.
Now residents living near to North wood Park are calling on Stoke-on-Trent City Council to invest in the site.
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FORMER GLORY: Residents say Northwood Park has been neglected.
They say the park has been neglected for so long that it is no longer popular with families.
Alan Wrench, treasurer for Northwood Residents' Association, said: "Northwood always seems to be forgotten about as an area, which gets overlooked by the council.
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"There's not a lot at the park for youngsters and I'm not surprised it will cost an awful lot to get to where it needs to be.
"It would be nice to see something done but we always seem to be overlooked."
The council's city renewal's estates services estimates it will cost £116,500 to get the park in order.
Around £79,000 needs to be spent on maintenance and modernisation and a further £37,500 is needed to pay for a backlog of repairs to paths, railings and walls.
The council has already revealed that it is prioritising the city's major parks including Central Forest Park, Park Hall and Westport Lake.
The idea is to concentrate resources on those parks which have the potential to bring in visitors to the area to in turn boost the local economy. Smaller parks could then be transferred to community groups.
Paul Breeze, chairman of the Hanley One Residents' Association, said: "Northwood Park is very well used but things aren't looking very good in these economic times and £116,000 is an awful lot of money that is needed to be spent."
Mr Breeze added: "It would be great to see the park being regenerated and there are bits that need doing but I think it is manageable at the moment."
The council spent around £2,470,000 managing and maintaining green space within the city during 2011/12.
Councillor Andy Platt, cabinet member for green enterprises and a cleaner city, said: "We will continue to maintain the smaller parks, however we will prioritise our limited resources on our strategic and district parks.
"We wish to encourage and support greater community involvement in how the parks are managed and maintained which may result through a partnership arrangement in residents and social enterprises taking over the running of small parks or areas of green space in the city.
"This would also increase the opportunities of obtaining external funding to improve park facilities as community groups and social enterprises are able to apply for funding unavailable to councils."
Mr Breeze added: "I think if parks are going to be taken over by residents' groups they need to have some kind of clear committee in place and people with a business plan of what they want to do. But we are still waiting to see what the future holds for Northwood Park."
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