New parks set to rejuvenate Leamington Spa

A new skatepark at Victoria Park in Leamington, is expected to be finished soon with its official opening arranged for 12 November. It is hoped that it will be the first of several improvements to Leamington’s parks.

Building work for the park commenced in September, and in the past few days the builders’ fences have come down leading to several skaters trying out the park ahead of its official opening.

The former ramp in the park was removed for health and safety reasons in 2011. Plans for the re-opening of the facility were revealed in June, following years of campaigning by the group ‘Save Our Skatepark’ (SOS).

The team, led by skater Alex Walker, unveiled the reopening proposal after receiving a £60,000 fund from the SITA Trust, and a match fund of £50,000 from Warwick District Council.

It is also hoped that another area in the town will be soon undergoing renovation to provide a new green communal park for inhabitants.

A community group from Leamington are currently attempting to raise funds and support for a proposed ‘nature park’ in a derelict South Leamington area.

The group, Achieving Results in Communities (ARC), is competing with two others as part of a shortlist for the Tesco Bags of Help initiative, for a grant worth thousands of pounds to support their project.

The Bags of Help initiative is the result of coordination between Tesco and Groundwork, an environmental charity. It awards green space and environmental projects with grants raised from the 5p bag charge.

Shoppers are invited to vote in Tesco stores throughout the region for the group which should be awarded the grant.

The proposal for the nature park location would lead to the transformation of a rundown burial ground, on New Street in Leamington.

If the proposal is successful and plans for the nature park go ahead, the grant will also fund regular ‘forest gardening’ sessions and various workshops on wildlife protection.

Sadia Ahmed, a second-year English Literature student, commented: “I think that Leamington is a beautiful town, but it definitely needs some more green spaces, so I am looking forward to seeing whether this new park is created.”