ILAM Open Space Management Award (OSMA) Joint Winner 2003

Palfrey Park – Walsall MBC

History

Palfrey Park is a Victorian Park now situated in a culturally diverse community which suffers from multiple deprivation including high levels of unemployment, lack of mobility and social exclusion. The turning point for the park was the commencement of community involvement in 1995 eventually leading to successful funding bids to restore the park.

Community and partnerships

The local authority had been consulting the community since the early 1990s and had invested capital funding in a number of improvements. However in 1995 the Local Involvement Programme (LIP) commenced additional consultation leading to the formation of the Palfrey Park Friends and Users Association (PPFUA) in 1996. PPFUA worked with a large number of local community organisations and secured a high level of support from the Palfrey Local Committee who recognised the regeneration of the park as a priority in their Local Community Plan.

Funding and Projects

The Palfrey Local Committee became the delivery agent for the Single Regeneration Budget in the area and awarded almost £150k to create a safer environment in the park.
Also LIP had been progressing a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund Urban parks Programme and secured £370k from this source for a three year programme to restore the historic core of the park.
A variety of other funding sources have been secured including BTCV people’s places, Safer Routes to School and Walking the Way to Health. The Friends group have also raised over £8000 through events income, donations and awards.

Events and activities

Practical conservation activities have been carried out for many years and have been recently supplemented by a BTCV People’s Places Award, which is funding training and support for local people. There is also a great deal of involvement of local people in community arts and design projects related to the restoration scheme. For example over 400 people were involved in designing new park gates. An annual programme of community events and activities attracts thousands more visitors to the park and includes an Asian volleyball tournament, schools projects and family fun days.

Quotes from people involved

“Winning the award was a great honour to Walsall Council and Palfrey Park Friends & Users Association. When we went to receive the award in Gateshead we were unprepared for the respect that we were shown for our achievement by other parks and open spaces from around the UK. From that evening we were able to come back and feed back to the community just how important the award was and to thank many people who had participated in making it possible. Perhaps most important of all it gave us all a huge boost to carry on and to set ourselves even more goals to reach.”

“The value of the project has been to increase the use of the park, which has meant that we have been able to attract additional funding, resulting in more provision and, in turn, attracting more users.”

What’s happened recently?

Since winning the award they have successfully completed the first phase of regeneration works in the park, including the fabrication and installation of the new community-designed gates and pillars. They are also embarking on the exciting project of reconstructing the bandstand to reflect the historical structure which once stood in the park. Other funding has been secured from New Opportunities Fund - Transforming Your Space, Landfill Tax and Sure Start.

Contact

Sourced from “Recognising Innovation and Imagination in Open Space Management".