Money from housing developments will help fund a series of improvements in Burley Park, a Kirkstall councillor has said.
Around £45,000 has been allocated to Burley Park by Leeds City Council from section 106 money, which is the money developers have to pay the council towards green space when they develop a site. The Burley Park money comes from flat conversions in the area.
Cllr Fiona Venner met some of the committee members of the Friends of Burley Park – a community group committed to improving the green-space within and around Burley Par – last week with an officer from the Parks department.
Just before Covid hit the Friends Group ran a survey of what people thought would improve the park and 140 local people completed this. Cllr Venner added:
“We have identified the top priorities as being resurfacing and patching the damaged footpaths and resurfacing and refurbishing the tennis courts.
“These are the elements of the park that I get the most complaints about as a local Cllr and these items were also at the top of the survey response list.
“I know these aren’t necessarily the most exciting things you can do in a park, but the paths in particular are so bad in some places and this will make the most difference to the most people in terms of creating a safe surface for children on bikes and scooters and people with prams and wheelchairs. We are just waiting for Parks to come back to us with the costs of this resurfacing and refurbishment work.”
Check out the Friends of Burley Park Facebook page and get involved with the group if you would like to be part of a friendly group of local people working together to develop the park.