Great Barr's Red House Park in line for big revamp
Thousands of pounds will be spent on improving a park in Great Barr under plans to revitalise the beauty sport and draw in more visitors.
New sports equipment and picnic benches will be installed at Red House Park and a clean-up of the woodland.
A new seating area has already been installed at the park's well known Princess Charlotte Memorial on the hill.
In February, plans were approved for the historic Red House at the park to be converted into apartments - despite a community campaign.
Friends of Red House Park group vice-chairman David Fisher says members have big plans for the green space as they submitted their plans to the council.
They hope the revamp will lead to the park being awarded Green Flag status, the national mark of quality for parks and green spaces in the UK.
Mr Fisher said: "We would love to achieve Green flag status in the future and we are looking to work towards it but these things take time."
The main area of focus will be to open up woodland in the lower areas of of the park off Longleat.
The wood is close to the park's two pools and volunteers want the area to become a feature attraction.
Work to create a picnic area is top priority also, which would involve opening out densely packed trees to bring more light in.
Red House Park's bowling green would also be brought back into use under the plans by the group.
"This is a popular park and we want to make more of it. We have good wildlife, badgers, woodpeckers and the like here," Mr Fisher added.
The group has already applied to Skipton Building Society's Grassroots Giving fund to receive a grant of £500 towards the revamp.
Sandwell Council representatives were attending the friends group's annual general meeting last night to discuss ways the authority could help with funding.
Mr Fisher says members are also eager to discover when developers plan to start work on transforming the Red House into homes.
The house was built by Robert Wellbeloved Scott in 1841.
