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New look park is proving popular

19/ 8/2008

DOZENS of children joined in the fun and games at a newly-opened Milkstone park.

After months of hard work by St Vincent’s Housing Association and Rochdale Council’s implementation, planning and environmental marketing teams, the park in King Street East officially opened last Thursday.

The mayor, Councillor Robin Parker, was in attendance, as were Councillors Mohammed Sharif and Imtiaz Ahmed.

The park is now filled with traditional playground games for younger children, with brightly coloured fencing and planting to tie in with the existing equipment on the site.

Before the work started, residents living close to the park were consulted by the Safer Stronger Communities Partnership, which funded the project, and revealed they were concerned that older youths had been congregating in the area causing a nuisance.

As part of the project, several nearby alleyways were gated to make the area more secure.

The rest of the park also benefited from improvement work funded by the Housing Improvement Programme.

These included replacement and repair of the boundary railings, a new entrance which was designed by residents, clearance of overgrown plants and re-planting of other species, the installation of new paths to the play area and new bollards to restrict vehicle access.

Mushtaq Ahmed, the project’s co-ordinator and youth and community liaison worker for St Vincent’s, said: "Only by consulting closely with local residents were we able to get a good feel for what was required. All the designs and colours have been chosen by residents in the area and already the mini-playground is proving extremely popular with younger children."

Emma Micklethwaite, from the council’s implementation planning team, said: "I’m delighted that the scheme has been so popular and would like to thank all concerned for their hard work."

The park contract was carried out by Groundwork Landscapes.

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