Osgathorpe Park – Cleaner, Greener and Safer

by John Gamble
Local resident and Friend of Osgathorpe Park

Many local residents see Osgathorpe Park, off Earl Marshal and Barnsley Road, as a much-loved green space that has sadly been neglected in recent years, suffering from litter, vandalism and nuisance behaviours aggravated by poor lighting.

The ‘Friends of Osgathorpe Park’ Group was established two years ago to help improve the park. Members are local residents and park users who want to see the park tidied up, with more people of all ages actively and positively using it.

The group have started to make a difference by:

• Planting hundreds of new trees, helping to promote wildlife.
• Installating squeeze barriers to prevent quad bikes and motorcycles entering the park and causing a nuisance.
• Improving mowing and litter picking by the Council and organising community litter picking days.

Police surveillance of the park has been increased and arrests have been made to stop drug dealing.

The group are spending funding on more improvements. We aim to get the pavilion back into use and improve the facilities to encourage more people to use the park, and to make it safer. The group also aim to transform the children’s play area by installing new equipment and making it safer by erecting a fence around it to keep out dogs. The appearance of the park and buildings will be improved too, with paintings by young people and more flowers and plants. We are also working for more bins and improved lighting.

We are asking everyone to help make the park cleaner, greener and safer. We need more people to tell us what our priorities should be – without you, the improvements we all want will not happen. We particularly welcome members of the black and ethnic minority communities as they are currently underrepresented in the group.
The next meeting will be on 21st June, 6.30pm at the Osgathorpe Park Pavilion.

A variety of events are planned for this summer, including: weekly one hour health walks for all the family, the ‘One Love’ festival, Osgathorpe Park Jam on 25th July and the Osgathorpe Park Fun Day on 5th August.
For more information about events, meeting dates, or to share your ideas and opinions, please contact Jenny or Moira of the Burngreave Green Environment Programme on 278 9651.