Leazes Park - An Outline Vision

 

The Friends of Leazes Park are working on a long-term vision that we hope will help inform a new Park Management Plan. Building on the knowledge developed over recent years our outline vision was generated to start the ball rolling and form a basis for discussion with the Park’s users and stakeholders. We carried out a survey of park users and incorporated their feedback into our vision.

It is our ambition that there is a presence in the Park every day of the week to improve safety, regular maintenance and engagement within the Park to generate a wider feeling of ownership and care.  

We looked at the Park in a zone-based system, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each zone and our vision for them.

By zoning the Park and ensuring that there are buildings in each zone this provides an opportunity for a ‘people presence’ in key areas across the Park.  This people presence can be provided through three key channels, staff, volunteers and park stakeholders.    

The key aim is to ‘activate’ the Park. 

Several actions were identified that would make an immediate improvement to the Park and if funding/personnel resources can be made available they could be carried out quite quickly:

  • A Communication Strategy

  • Signage consistent throughout the Park

  • Seating consistent throughout the Park and well maintained

  • Memorial trees/plaques/book, maybe an arboretum

  • More tree planting

  • Research projects/surveys of the Park’s wildlife, topography, lake study

  • Returning water to the water sculpture in Zone 2

  • Drinking fountains installed

  • A plastic free zone

  • Bins consistent throughout the Park with a review of capacity, placement, recycling, collection of waste. Including dog bins.

  • Regular patrols of the Park

  • Creating relationships within the RVI, Universities, NUFC, Northumbria Water, local businesses

  • Selling bird food and signs regarding appropriate feeding

  • Remove bbq, wheelie bin holders and enforce byelaw regarding no fires in the Park (a fineable offence)

  • Creating attractive and well-maintained entrances to the Park