Cash boost for local park

A popular Trafford park once blighted by antisocial behaviour has been handed a £5,000 grant to upgrade its community garden.

Members of Friends of Oak Road Park have successfully bid for a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) Standing Together Grant.

The Partington community group will now use the funds to pay for extra fruit trees, flower beds and vegetables.

Chair of the park’s friends group Cllr Adele New, said:

This is a strong community where residents value their environment.

Collectively we have done so much to improve the park, but there’s still so much more to do.
 
“This funding is very welcome – and will help to expand our vegetable garden so that we can grow fresh produce to share with the community.”

District Commander of Greater Manchester Police, Caroline Hemmingway, said the park was once known as a hotspot for anti-social behaviour.

However, the community has done an outstanding job transforming it into a safe and secure space that is enjoyed by the entire community,”

It’s fantastic to see how communities and partnerships working together can address serious issues successfully – and a project like this just shows how it can be done with help and support.”

Cllr Graham Whitham, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Communities and Partnership, said:

This funding will help launch a fantastic project that the whole community will benefit from.

Providing a space for residents to grow fresh fruit and vegetables is great idea – and I applaud everyone who has been involved in the initiative.”

Since 2015, local residents have worked tirelessly to transform the park into an area the entire community could use. To kick-start the scheme the community group initially raised £20,000 while Trafford Council invested £40,000 in a play area, a zip-wire, woodland and a swath of communal space.

Posted on Monday 15th June 2020