Four Nottingham parks are sharing a bumper bonus of £190,000 thanks to WREN.  The money will help open a new café, build two new play areas and improve landscaping.

The latest awards take the total grants given by WREN to Nottingham parks since September 2006 to just over £2million.

WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd) is a not-for-profit business that benefits the lives of people who live close to landfill sites by giving grants for community, biodiversity and heritage projects.  The latest four parks to benefit are:

  • Green’s Mill Park in Sneinton – which receives £50,000 for general refurbishment in advance of its bid for a first Green Flag award next year.
  • Wollaton Park – awarded £50,000 towards a planned £100,000 refurbishment of the old football pavilion into a café and community space.  The City Council will contribute £20,000, and work is underway to secure the remaining £30,000.
  • Clifton Central Park – also known as Flower Park – which receives £50,000 towards a new play area.  Local people have helped choose a winning design. NET and Nottingham City Council will also contribute to costs and maintenance.
  • The Green play area near Bosworth Walk in The Meadows – awarded £40,000 towards play equipment for toddlers.  Nottingham City Council and NET will also contribute.

The news has been welcomed by Nottingham Open Spaces Forum, which aims to promote, protect, conserve and enhance open spaces within the city.

Chair Sarah Manton said: “The invaluable support of organisations like WREN impacts positively on local communities and visitors to these parks at a time when Council budgets are under extreme pressure.  This additional funding and the continued involvement of local volunteers and community groups mean that our beautiful city parks continue to grow and thrive.”

Councillor Dave Trimble, Nottingham City Council Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, said: “The outstanding financial support we have received from WREN over the past ten years has helped us improve a huge number of parks for the benefit of people across the city.  It is thanks to valuable partnerships such as this that Nottingham parks continue to be amongst the best in the country, as acknowledged through our record number of Green Flag awards.”

WREN is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects from funds donated by waste and resource management company FCC Environment through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Cheryl Raynor, WREN’s local grant manager, says: “We are delighted to be supporting the city council with four fantastic new projects and pleased that our funding will provide such fantastic facilities for young people across the city. WREN is always happy to consider grant applications for projects that make a difference to local communities and we’re really looking forward to seeing these take shape soon.”