The Community Board and the Council’s Parks and Waterways Unit have been working with people in Hei Hei on plans to improve Wycola Park.

Rod Whearty, the Parks and Waterways Advocate based at the Council’s Sockburn Service Centre, says the park is used a lot by people going to and from the shopping area on Wycola Avenue but has no real pathway network.

“That’s what we’re looking at first and we’ve got about $10,000 of funding from the Community Board to make a start on that work,” he says.

Also likely is a new toilet block – money is earmarked for that in the 2003/04 financial year — and a new hard-court area and some other improvements near the skate facility at the south end of the park.

“We’ve been talking to the people in the area about how the park could be developed to increase its usability and make it a bit more friendly for the people in the area,” Mr Whearty says.

Work is likely to be done in stages over two or three years, he says, as funding becomes available.