Green Flag ambitions for Withy Grove Park
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£250,000 cash boost has been announced for one of the borough’s best-loved parks, as part of South Ribble Borough Council’s budget proposals.
The quarter of a million pound investment would see Withy Grove Park in Bamber Bridge brought up to the standard required to receive a prestigious Green Flag Award.
The Green Flag Award Scheme recognises the very best green spaces in the UK and is the benchmark national standard for parks.
South Ribble already has three Green Flag Awards for Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve, Penwortham’s Hurst Grange Park and Worden Park in Leyland (the only park north of London to have earned a Green Flag every single year since the scheme was started).
Withy Grove Park is already popular with families, with plenty of green open space, a wooded area and one of the North West’s biggest and best playgrounds.
The money would be ploughed into re-landscaping the western side of park, furthest away from the playground and leisure centre, which is popular with dog walkers. Footpaths would be re-routed and improved, leading to a central hub featuring a sculpture.
New bins, signage and benches would also be added and the park would be completely re-landscaped.
The ambitious plans form part of the council’s budget proposals, due to be announced on Tuesday (February 2).
The announcement comes on the back of last year’s three quarters of a million pounds investment in South Ribble’s parks, including £300,000 of improvements at Worden Park, which included a brand new entrance and car parks.
Councillor Warren Bennett, South Ribble Borough Council’s Deputy Leader and cabinet member for Finance and Resources, said: “This is a tremendously exciting project which forms part of a vibrant budget full of optimism for the future. The council is playing a leading role in the economic growth of the borough and alongside this, it is essential that we create new facilities and amenities as well as enhancing our existing ones.
“Withy Grove Park already boasts one of the best playgrounds in the North West and is already hugely popular within the community and beyond. The Friends of Withy Grove Park is a wonderful group who dedicate much time and effort to improving the park, and we look forward to working with them on our exciting ambitions for what we hope will become our next Green Flag park.”