Six popular parks set to get ‘long-term improvements’

Bosworth Battlefield and Market Bosworth Country parks included

BUT CRITICS CONCERNED ABOUT ‘SECONDARY’ SITES

NEW cafes, play areas and improved parking are included in long-term plans to improve six of Leicestershire’s most popular parks.

The county council has set out a 10-year strategy to try to enhance the parks it manages which are visited by hundreds of thousands of people a year.

Officials are to focus their efforts on six parks – Beacon Hill, Broombriggs Farm, Bosworth Battlefield, Market Bosworth Country Park, Watermead Park and Snibston Country Park – but it has warned it still needs to save large amounts of money.

That has led to concerns smaller parks could be overlooked.

It is also unclear how much the council’s plans will cost to execute. It has said it may increase parking charges at parks to pay for improvements.

The proposed changes include the following:

■ New cycleway, mountain bike trails and cafe; improved facilities for walking, jogging and family cycling on the site; developing the site as a hub for the community.

■ develop the park as a family destination; more children’s equipment and the Labyrinth developed as a children’s attraction; making the cafe as a focal point of community engagement.

■

improved visitor access; farming practices to demonstrate conservation farming; expanded the orchard and agro-forestry schemes; bigger car park; utilise Broombriggs Cottage.

■ better cafe and catering facilities; repair or replace the toilet block; new play facilities; rationalised parking; improved nature reserve and opportunities for watching.

■ habitats wildlife improved arboretum; integrate former pasture land into the park’s landscape; better access and improve play facilities; develop and improve the Bow Pool lake and Stew ponds.

■ improved interpretation on the country park; improved parking, including replacing obsolete pay and display machines.

The county council listed a dozen smaller parks, it described as secondary. They are: Donington Le Heath Country Park, Jubilee Wood, Sheet Hedges Wood, Burrough Hill Country Park, Sarah’s Wood, Donisthorpe Woodlands, Saltersford Valley Picnic Areas, Bagworth Heath, New Lount Nature Reserve, Oakthorpe Picnic Area, Ashby Woulds Heritage Trail and Brampton Valley Way.

The council said: “They will still be managed in accordance with the primary themes of the strategy but perhaps with them there will be even greater opportunity to involve and engage the community and partners.

“They are therefore classified more as local parks than destination parks.”

Deputy council leader Byron Rhodes said: “The environment around us is more important than ever.

“We are all taking more notice of the changes to the climate, the impact of our actions and what this means for generations to come.

“Trees and plants are natural warriors against the climate emergency which has been recognised globally.

“Our parks are welcome habitats for plants, insects and animals, as well as being so cherished by residents and communities.”

Simon Galton, leader of the county council’s Liberal Democrat opposition group, said: “There is a concern about these secondary sites.

“The council should make a clear commitment to retaining them.”