Leys park gets £50k revamp

7:00pm Thursday 20th September 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Rhianne Pope

Brian Lester Brian Lester

A CASH windfall of £50,000 will soon be winging its way to a park in Oxford’s biggest estate.

Blackbird Leys Park will now be home to a new fitness trail, complete with outdoor gym stations and new picnic areas.

Residents will now also be able to enjoy new footpaths, more trees and a new wildlife habitat area.

The £50,000 is from Wren, the organisation which distributes landfill tax credits to community projects.

Environmental charity Groundwork Thames Valley bid for the cash on behalf of Oxford City Council .

Groundwork spokesman Robert Tilley said: “We were obviously thrilled to find out the bid had been successful.”

The work will include new footpath avenues surrounded by trees and the chance for local schools and groups to use outdoor spaces for environmental purposes.

The news comes as two other improvement projects on the estate come to fruition.

Work has started on a skate park at Frys Hill Park in Greater Leys and is subject to a separate bid for Wren money to improve the area.

Within weeks the park will be home to £60,000 skating facilities, featuring ramps, rails and a host of other equipment for local skaters to enjoy.

Work is also expected to start soon at the play area in Pegasus Road, which was put on hold after a town green bid was submitted for the park.

The Blackbird Leys Parish Council had leant its support to the improvement schemes, writing to Wren to back the bid.

Parish council deputy chair-man Brian Lester said: “The stream in the park definitely needs doing as it often floods and is always full of debris.

“The whole thing sounds like a good idea. More equipment for the kids and things for them to do, it’s great. And work has finally started on the skate park.”

He added: “But all these new things need to be respected. The community needs to look after them.”

Comments (3)

12:06am Fri 21 Sep 12

Myron Blatz says...

Leys Park - don't they play polo there on warm sunday afternoons, or is it that large chunk of Blackbird Leys which the City Council hasn't yet been able to build more houses on, but wants to build a large new swimming pool which the rest of Oxford wants built elsewhere? Maybe a a longer-lasting and more cost-effective way toward health and fitness for the people of Blackbird Leys would be to reduce the current four-minute bus frequency to and from Blackbird Leys to every 15 minutes - about the time it would take young people to do some healthy walking to Cowley Centre. Then all those lovely surplus buses could be used elsewhere in and around Oxford, for places not quite so blessed with public transport, or with having an MP living in the locale! (I wonder if the Stalecoach #17 service to Jericho would imporve its current 1hr 17 mins service, if an MP - from any Party - was to move there?)
Leys Park - don't they play polo there on warm sunday afternoons, or is it that large chunk of Blackbird Leys which the City Council hasn't yet been able to build more houses on, but wants to build a large new swimming pool which the rest of Oxford wants built elsewhere? Maybe a a longer-lasting and more cost-effective way toward health and fitness for the people of Blackbird Leys would be to reduce the current four-minute bus frequency to and from Blackbird Leys to every 15 minutes - about the time it would take young people to do some healthy walking to Cowley Centre. Then all those lovely surplus buses could be used elsewhere in and around Oxford, for places not quite so blessed with public transport, or with having an MP living in the locale! (I wonder if the Stalecoach #17 service to Jericho would imporve its current 1hr 17 mins service, if an MP - from any Party - was to move there?) Myron Blatz

7:05am Fri 21 Sep 12

Andrew:Oxford says...

Myron Blatz wrote:
Leys Park - don't they play polo there on warm sunday afternoons, or is it that large chunk of Blackbird Leys which the City Council hasn't yet been able to build more houses on, but wants to build a large new swimming pool which the rest of Oxford wants built elsewhere? Maybe a a longer-lasting and more cost-effective way toward health and fitness for the people of Blackbird Leys would be to reduce the current four-minute bus frequency to and from Blackbird Leys to every 15 minutes - about the time it would take young people to do some healthy walking to Cowley Centre. Then all those lovely surplus buses could be used elsewhere in and around Oxford, for places not quite so blessed with public transport, or with having an MP living in the locale! (I wonder if the Stalecoach #17 service to Jericho would imporve its current 1hr 17 mins service, if an MP - from any Party - was to move there?)
In some ways true. Even the SaveTCP group have admitted on here that it would make more sense to build the new pool adjacent to the Ice Rink at Oxpens.

Whilst this would need a seriously longer journey, and would mean passing by a pool that is open to the public, it would mean that the Lobbying Fundamentalists of Temple Cowley and Lye Valley wouldn't suffer the indignity of entering Blackbird Leys.

Best not to be too anxious about the buses that serve BBL - They, like all the intensive services in Oxford, are profitable. Th bus which serves the primarily wealthy and bohemian community of Jericho receives a subsidy...
[quote][p][bold]Myron Blatz[/bold] wrote: Leys Park - don't they play polo there on warm sunday afternoons, or is it that large chunk of Blackbird Leys which the City Council hasn't yet been able to build more houses on, but wants to build a large new swimming pool which the rest of Oxford wants built elsewhere? Maybe a a longer-lasting and more cost-effective way toward health and fitness for the people of Blackbird Leys would be to reduce the current four-minute bus frequency to and from Blackbird Leys to every 15 minutes - about the time it would take young people to do some healthy walking to Cowley Centre. Then all those lovely surplus buses could be used elsewhere in and around Oxford, for places not quite so blessed with public transport, or with having an MP living in the locale! (I wonder if the Stalecoach #17 service to Jericho would imporve its current 1hr 17 mins service, if an MP - from any Party - was to move there?)[/p][/quote]In some ways true. Even the SaveTCP group have admitted on here that it would make more sense to build the new pool adjacent to the Ice Rink at Oxpens. Whilst this would need a seriously longer journey, and would mean passing by a pool that is open to the public, it would mean that the Lobbying Fundamentalists of Temple Cowley and Lye Valley wouldn't suffer the indignity of entering Blackbird Leys. Best not to be too anxious about the buses that serve BBL - They, like all the intensive services in Oxford, are profitable. Th bus which serves the primarily wealthy and bohemian community of Jericho receives a subsidy... Andrew:Oxford

4:24pm Fri 21 Sep 12

ger elttil OX2 0EJ says...

Andrew:Oxford wrote:
Myron Blatz wrote:
Leys Park - don't they play polo there on warm sunday afternoons, or is it that large chunk of Blackbird Leys which the City Council hasn't yet been able to build more houses on, but wants to build a large new swimming pool which the rest of Oxford wants built elsewhere? Maybe a a longer-lasting and more cost-effective way toward health and fitness for the people of Blackbird Leys would be to reduce the current four-minute bus frequency to and from Blackbird Leys to every 15 minutes - about the time it would take young people to do some healthy walking to Cowley Centre. Then all those lovely surplus buses could be used elsewhere in and around Oxford, for places not quite so blessed with public transport, or with having an MP living in the locale! (I wonder if the Stalecoach #17 service to Jericho would imporve its current 1hr 17 mins service, if an MP - from any Party - was to move there?)
In some ways true. Even the SaveTCP group have admitted on here that it would make more sense to build the new pool adjacent to the Ice Rink at Oxpens.

Whilst this would need a seriously longer journey, and would mean passing by a pool that is open to the public, it would mean that the Lobbying Fundamentalists of Temple Cowley and Lye Valley wouldn't suffer the indignity of entering Blackbird Leys.

Best not to be too anxious about the buses that serve BBL - They, like all the intensive services in Oxford, are profitable. Th bus which serves the primarily wealthy and bohemian community of Jericho receives a subsidy...
That is because Andrew, the wealthy and bohemian community would not be seen dead in a BMW, let alone a bus (minumum of a Jag). And Brian I remember when I was a kid loads of us using the brook for long jump practice, many a time I ended up with a trainer full of mud, and, after my mum had seen them, a sore bottom when I got home, those were the days.
[quote][p][bold]Andrew:Oxford[/bold] wrote: [quote][p][bold]Myron Blatz[/bold] wrote: Leys Park - don't they play polo there on warm sunday afternoons, or is it that large chunk of Blackbird Leys which the City Council hasn't yet been able to build more houses on, but wants to build a large new swimming pool which the rest of Oxford wants built elsewhere? Maybe a a longer-lasting and more cost-effective way toward health and fitness for the people of Blackbird Leys would be to reduce the current four-minute bus frequency to and from Blackbird Leys to every 15 minutes - about the time it would take young people to do some healthy walking to Cowley Centre. Then all those lovely surplus buses could be used elsewhere in and around Oxford, for places not quite so blessed with public transport, or with having an MP living in the locale! (I wonder if the Stalecoach #17 service to Jericho would imporve its current 1hr 17 mins service, if an MP - from any Party - was to move there?)[/p][/quote]In some ways true. Even the SaveTCP group have admitted on here that it would make more sense to build the new pool adjacent to the Ice Rink at Oxpens. Whilst this would need a seriously longer journey, and would mean passing by a pool that is open to the public, it would mean that the Lobbying Fundamentalists of Temple Cowley and Lye Valley wouldn't suffer the indignity of entering Blackbird Leys. Best not to be too anxious about the buses that serve BBL - They, like all the intensive services in Oxford, are profitable. Th bus which serves the primarily wealthy and bohemian community of Jericho receives a subsidy...[/p][/quote]That is because Andrew, the wealthy and bohemian community would not be seen dead in a BMW, let alone a bus (minumum of a Jag). And Brian I remember when I was a kid loads of us using the brook for long jump practice, many a time I ended up with a trainer full of mud, and, after my mum had seen them, a sore bottom when I got home, those were the days. ger elttil OX2 0EJ

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