Greenhead Park

The war memorial in Greenhead Park

Greenhead Park is a large park located a short distance (300 metres west) from Huddersfield Town Centre and Greenhead College in West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the largest parks in Huddersfield and was originally opened in 1884. It is Grade 2 listed (by English Heritage) and is also in a Conservation Area.

It is a very popular park, attracting an estimated 250,000 visitors each year. It is popular with visitors from all walks of life, including students at lunchtime from the local colleges—both Greenhead and Technical College. The park features tennis courts, a skate park, a crazy golf course, play area and the last remaining paddling pool in Kirklees.

The annual Caribbean Carnival event has been held in the Park each summer for many years, along with many other popular events. However, there will be no major public events held in the Park until 2011, due to the Restoration Project, which is due to start later this year.

The Friends of Greenhead Park is a group made up of local residents and people who are interested and involved in the Park. They meet at 6pm on the first Tuesday of the month and are always happy to encourage and welcome new members. Their next AGM will be held on Saturday March 7th, starting at 11am - all are welcome to attend and find out what they have been up to, and what their plans are for the coming months.

The Future!

2009 promises to be a fantastic year for the Park, with the start of the Restoration Project, which has been talked about for several years. This is a really exciting project which will make Greenhead Park a bright and vibrant public space, making it better able to cater for the many thousands of people who visit each year.

It has taken some time to get to a stage where the project can start on the ground.

Firstly, it was vital to have a good look at the state of the Park, and work out what should be kept, what should be removed, what should be restored, and find out what people thought of the Park. This was put together in a Conservation Management Plan.

Secondly, the Council had to find the money to pay for the scheme - which was a project in itself! The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) came up trumps with this, but the amount of work which was required was certainly considerable. In the end it took almost 4 years from the initial application to the HLF until the Council received the approval for the funds to restore the Park. In the interim a significant amount of research, consultation, design and engineering and a range of surveys were carried out to put together a Stage 2 report to the HLF, which formed the basis of the Council's application to the HLF.

Finally, since funding was approved, there has been further work to the details of the architectural and engineering designs to make sure every aspect of the work was included, and would mean that the Park was sustainable and successful when the work was complete. This has been complex and very detailed, involving further surveys and studies, to ensure that as many problems are ironed out now, rather than when the Project is on site. There is a project team made up of officers from the Council, architects from Gillespies, engineers from Buro Happold, CDM Co-ordination from Aedas and Project Management from Turner & Townsend.

So, whilst it may seem that little has gone on (which, in effect, it has) almost every part of the process has now been completed, leaving little (it is hoped) in the way for the work to soon start on making the Park a brighter and happier place for years to come!

External links

• Kirklees Council

• Greenhead Park restoration 2009 - Kirklees Council

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=greenhead+park&s=rec Some photos of the Park on Flickr