A girls’ rights march to North Marine Park, Tai Chi classes in Leazes Park and youth drop in sessions at Saltwell Park – these are just some of the positive action events springing up in parks across the Northumbria Police force area this spring.

The packed events programme forms part of Kim McGuinness’ plans to encourage local people to reclaim the region’s parks through her Safer Parks fund – a fund that has channeled £110K into parks across the six local authority areas

The funding opportunity was launched earlier this year in response to a Safer Streets Survey ran by the Commissioner’s office that uncovered 62 per cent of local women said they felt unsafe in our parks at night. It also found 89% felt unsafe due to men/boys and groups of people. These are figures Kim is determined to improve.

To help make change happen, Kim called on local people and community groups that are passionate about parks to bid for funding so she could hand over cash that would help them plan positive action activities that would breathe new life into our region’s green spaces and promote community safety.

With the lighter nights arriving, a range of activities and events are now lined up at our parks as a result of the funding and through working closely with each of the six local councils and Urban Green Newcastle.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said: “I’ve said this all along – parks belong to the community – the community knows best what would attract people to the parks and what would help them feel safer whether someone is walking home through the park at night or enjoying quality time with the family.

“We have so many really good parks in our region – great for taking a run or meeting friends but people have told us they don’t always feel safe using them and that’s not on.

“Parks should be at the heart of communities and places of escape – safety fears should not and must not prevent people from using them.

“So with this project we are making steps to change this and I am thankful to everyone who has been getting involved and I am looking forward to popping along to as many of them as I can to show my support.”

Parks with positive action events coming up are:

  • Hirst Park – Ashington
  • Richardson Dees Park – Wallsend
  • Leazes Park – Newcastle
  • Saltwell Park – Gateshead
  • North Marine Park – South Shields
  • Mowbray Park – Sunderland

A number of other improvements will be carried out at the sites including better lighting, new help points and the cutting back of vegetation to aid visibility.

For more detail on the events happening at your nearest park visit the website HERE