Residents go Bananas for New Park

Published by New Charter for New Charter Housing Trust Group in Communities and also in Environment, Housing

A PIECE of underused land in Dukinfield is to undergo a stunning transformation after a resident group successfully secured a huge lottery grant.

Central Resident Action Group (CRAG) has been awarded £50,000 to transform the ‘Monkey Park’ - an area of land at the heart of Central Estate in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester.

The park, which is currently contains picnic benches and a small grassy play area, will be transformed beyond recognition when plans to add a sunken slide, dry river bed, boulders and stepping stones get underway in March.

CRAG member Belinda Jeffries has lived on Central Estate for 17 years.  She worked with New Charter and Groundwork organising consultation events with families on the estate, who were overwhelmingly in favour of giving the area a makeover.

But it took three years of hard work before CRAG finally got the go-ahead from the Big Lottery’s Community Spaces Fund.

 Belinda said:  “Hearing that we’d finally secured the funding was like getting an early Christmas present.  I was absolutely buzzing that all the hard work of CRAG, New Charter and Groundwork over the past three years has finally paid off. “

New Charter’s former Regeneration Officer for the estate shared joined Belinda and other CRAG members in celebrating the news.  She said:  “CRAG members have worked extremely hard to secure this funding, so getting the green light is fantastic news. 

“The Monkey Park is already a lovely place for families to spend time.  Hopefully this project will give the park a much wider appeal, especially as there will be play equipment for young people of all ages.

 “This is a fantastic example of partnership working between tenants, New Charter and Groundwork and just goes to show what can be achieved when people are committed to transforming their communities for the better.”

Mark Ward, Executive Director at Groundwork for the area, added: 'This is a fantastic and creative solution to an underused piece of land, and one which we at Groundwork are proud to be associated with.  Congratulations to all the residents and staff whose hard work has made this transformation possible'.

The project is expected to be completed in summer this year.