Hereford resident says ‘no one interested’ in city park’s decline

A Hereford man says his local park is on a downward spiral but his complaints to the council are going unheeded.

Factory worker Steve Watts, 62, said Grandstand Community Park in Bobblestock in the northwest of the city used to have a bowling green with changing rooms and tennis courts but these, like the rest of the park, have suffered a combination of vandalism and lack of maintenance and investment.

“I’ve lived here for 30 years and have watched it go down and down because the council won’t look after it,” he said.

With the bowling green with changing rooms now gone completely, Mr Watts says he suspects the council are also letting the tennis courts “go to wrack and ruin” before redeveloping the site.

In April some of the former rubberised matting from one court was torn up and set alight, requiring a callout from the fire brigade, he added.

Fellow resident Lish Jenk said even the “semi-playable” of the two courts has a damaged and uneven surface on which she had already twisted her ankle.

“Beyond the safety concerns, the entire area is completely neglected and unappealing,” she said, adding this “not only discourages healthy activity but also invites graffiti, vandalism, and antisocial behaviour”.

A local youth football side which played at the park, Bobblestock Bulls, appears to have recently folded.

Mr Watts said neither local ward councillor Rob Owens nor council officials had responded when he and others have tried to raise these issues with them.

Indeed neither responded when asked to comment on this.

Yet with support, “we would get volunteers to help out with things like vegetation control – though we’d still need someone to come in and mow the grass”, he said, adding he would also like to see CCTV installed to deter anti-social behaviour.

Otherwise, residents’ feeling that no one is looking after the park is already leading them to intervene in it whatever way see fit, such as chopping back trees, Mr Watts said.

National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces chairman Dave Morris said: “Across the UK, parks are under threat from local authorities’ deteriorating budgets. But they are extremely popular and crucial to people’s wellbeing.”

In the absence of resources from above, “communities need to mobilise to protect, maintain and improve their local green spaces”, he said.