Community Focus Meeting (16 June 2026) - Central Park
Categories:
Update on Central Park
Joe Notarnicola, Recreation & Community Projects Officer at Cambridge City Council, provided an update on the state of the handover:
- Legal process ongoing
- Heading toward the handover of most facilities: Central Park, Sports Pavilion, sports pitches, tennis courts
- Also all other bits and bobs: smaller play areas or grass areas
- Central Park handover currently on hold because there is an easement with Anglian Water that needs to be sorted out with Barratt first.
- The Sports Pavilion has accessibility issues that need to be addressed, Barratt is aware of it.
Overall the handover is not far behind schedule, but it is behind. At least Barratt are keen on “getting rid” of as much as they can now, so they’re helpful.
Once the handover is done, the Sports Pavilion will be managed by Joe’s team through a booking system (similarly to the other pavilions in Cambridge). It won’t be manned all day but people will be popping in to make sure everything is in order.
Tennis courts will remain free but there will be a booking system, so the Council can follow usage, and to deter people from bringing their bikes in to hang around, for example.
As for the allotments, Joe is not sure of the progress. A number of questions were raised during the meeting, Julian mentioned there might be a need for a dedicated meeting once there’s more information or dates about the allotments.
Discussion: What about the parking space? Joe acknowledges that this is a massive issue. All the City Council can do is make people aware of the limited parking space, and give people alternatives. For large community events, Barratt may exceptionally ask the enforcement team to abstain.
Friends of Histon Road Recreation Ground
The Friends of Histon Road Recreation Ground (FoHRR) is a local community group interested in the beneficial use, enhancement and protection of the Histon Road Recreation Ground. Malcom Frew is the Chair of the association, and he would be happy to help set up a similar organisation for Darwin Green’s Central Park.
Background
Some background context: Histon Road was given for community use 100 years ago this year! The association was created in 2008, but by 2017 it was mostly inactive. In March 2024, money from the Council was allocated for an Environmental Improvement Programme (EIP), Malcom engaged with people at the Council and managed to get a grant for Histon Road Recreation Ground. People met to figure out how to use the money, which led to the resurgence of the association. It has over one hundred members now. The association also got involved when a Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP) was set up between developers and investors for a 70-house development, which caused a lot of headaches: plans for the development included building over portions of the park.
Throughout Malcom’s journey with the association, people have been incredibly supportive. He built a list of contacts and will make sure to share it with any association that would take care of the Central Park. Networking is key!
Activities
What FoHRR does:
- More plantings, and more to do with the environment. The association built a bee bank, a bank of logs and bee hotel, an insect hide…
- Planting nectar-rich flowers to draw in insects. One oak tree can support 2k insects. Flowers also attract bats.
- Community picnics
- Better play equipment
- See the related page from its website for more details
Requirements
Requirements for building a new association include:
- A bank account. It may be difficult to obtain, as few banks are ready to take a small and nascent association.
- A constitution
- An elected Committee
Having a constitution and a bank account, and a track record of actual physical involvement (such as litter picking) made the relations between the association and the City Council much easier.
Additionally, the association needs to decide what policies and strategies it will work on, otherwise things are “too fluid” and nothing really gets going.
On more practical terms, Malcom recommends using a dedicated laptop for all the association’s activity, to be able to hand over the administration when the time comes.
Friends of Darwin Green Central Park
Do we need a Friends of Central Park association, and what for?
A part of DGRA
The residents at the meeting raised that it may not be necessary to build a second association if activities related to Central Park can be incorporated into the residents’ association. This is also the position of the residents' association (DGRA): it seems easier to have a “branch” within the existing association for the Friends of Central Park, rather than setting up yet a distinct association. The Committee is happy to help and collaborate.
Looking at the list of achievements FoHRR was involved with, it makes sense: table tennis tables, community picnics, lobbying for better amenities, grant applications, are things that DGRA does or plans to do.
Malcom approves as well.
He also explains that writing down an environmental policy would be helpful, as the document could link to the things the association would like to get done. If we clearly define and scope the aims and objectives, the strategies the association wants to implement, it becomes easier to make it happen.
One identified issue at the moment is the separation between Darwin Green and Franklin Gardens that prevents (to some extent) Franklin Gardens’ residents to be involved. For example, they were not represented at the meeting.
Activities
Here are some things that residents consider doing.
Litter picking
Barratt is still supposed to do the litter picking, but the park is not always clean. There has been occasional, informal litter picking in the area. No formal litter picking group has been formed so far. The City Council can provide litter-picking equipment through the related scheme, Sue Jackson is happy to help set this up. We should probably look into forming a more regular group.
Tree planting
Residents expressed the desire to just plant trees in Central Park.
Planting trees in the newly-developed site is not easy: typically, the people managing the site would like to wait a little and see how the existing trees adapt and grow. Someone wanting to plant new trees should get in touch with the Tree Officer from the City Council (Joe can forward the request).
In the meantime, some residents would like to get funding to plant potted trees (as a way of getting more shade). The process for that is to first secure some environmental funding, then go to the people from the Council and ask: they can help find the right trees and help make it happen.
Variants of the project such as “dedicated pots”, arty-farty pots, painting competition, have been mentioned as potential ways to get more buy-in from members, and to establish a sense of ownership.
Events
Ideally, the association should figure out events to run, to bring more people to Central Park projects. Volunteers welcome, don’t hesitate to reach out!
DGRA would like to express their profound gratitude to Malcom for this introduction to how FoHRR works and what it does.