Communities offered opportunities to shape provision in eight Haringey parks

Residents are being encouraged to help shape improvements to eight borough parks benefiting from £1.5m of investment.
Cllr Emily Arkell in Bruce Castle Park Pic 2
The co-production exercise will ensure the six-figure upgrades by Haringey Council meet the needs of the local community.

A dedicated online platform has been launched with engagement underway on four of the parks set to benefit from the cash injection, with the others to follow very shortly.

Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Emily Arkell, recently visited Bruce Castle Park – one of three in the borough to be bolstered by major investments of a quarter of a million pounds or more each alongside Downhills Park and Lordship Recreation Ground.

Facilities at Chestnuts Park, Markfield Park, Paignton Park and White Hart Lane Recreation Ground will also be bolstered by six-figure sums, with money earmarked to improve Belmont Recreation Ground as well.

Cllr Arkell said:

It’s fantastic to be working with children, young people and their families to co-design these projects and meet the needs of local people in those eight parks.

We’ll be trialling an approach to participatory budgets, where residents will get the chance to agree how the money is allocated within each improvement scheme, as part of this co-design process too.

We know our parks and green, open spaces are highly valued by our residents and we will ensure the new play spaces are fully accessible and inclusive to all children in line with the commitments we made in the Parks and Greenspaces Strategy.

It’s fundamental for their development that they have safe and welcoming playgrounds to exercise, play and socialise in.
With co-production underway, the next stage will be the procurement element before the works begin on the ground this Autumn. The scheduled completion date for all eight projects is Spring next year.

The council will continue to work with the community, Friends groups and other external partners to add even more new facilities in each of the eight parks by securing further funding whenever possible.

The consultation exemplifies the Haringey Deal in action – sharing power with the borough’s communities and creating genuine opportunities for residents to shape delivery.