Plan for revamp of town’s park gets go-ahead

Plans for a major redevelopment of a park in Kirkwall have been given the go-ahead by Orkney Islands Council’s planning committee.

The proposals would see big changes for Papdale Park, including the building of an amphitheatre, routing of a burn through the park, changing the car park and improving the tracks and paths.

The applicant was the council itself with leisure and culture services manager Garry Burton speaking on its behalf.

He said: “The application has been a long-standing aspiration for the community. There has been a lot of community engagement.

“The proposal that’s been put forward is seen as much more of a community benefit than just a development of the play park itself.

“There are other benefits that have been highlighted, around the re-culverting of the burn, the biodiversity aspect and the community focus.”

While there was no dissent from members of the committee and there were no statutory objections, there was an objection from a nearby resident concerned about maintenance of the area, having areas of water near a children’s play area, deculverting works attracting vermin and vandalism and antisocial behaviour

However, the council’s planning department felt these concerns had been dealt with in the plans.

When reaching a decision for the application, the chairman of the council’s planning committee Rob Crichton said: “Do we have any general comments? Other than saying it’s great to see this park being redeveloped.”

No further comments were made.