West Bank Park gets £85,000: £30k to renew the north playground, £20k for a new pond, £25k for a girls' zone and £10k for a bike track. Two start now.
West Bank Park in Holgate is getting a renewed playground, a new wildlife pond, a zone designed for girls and a bike track in its woods. Together they will use £85,000.
The money is the rest of an insurance payout for 14 New Lane, a former coach house on the edge of the park. A council officer approved the four projects on 23 October. The decision was published on Tuesday.
Contractors for the first two projects are being appointed by direct award this week, the decision says.
The four projects
| Project | Budget | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Renew the north playground | £30,000 | Contractor drawing up a design; direct award this week |
| New concrete-lined pond with pollinator planting | £20,000 | Direct award to a named contractor this week |
| A “Make Space for Girls” zone | £25,000 | Friends group meets in November to decide what goes in it |
| Pump or bike track in the woods | £10,000 | Still being investigated |
The fund stands at £85,823.87, so the four projects use almost all of it.
What each one involves
The north playground will be renewed “catering for a diverse range of users”, the decision says. The council will also remove hedging and old, over-dominant signs to make the area more welcoming. That landscaping comes from its repair and maintenance budget, not this fund.
The pond replaces the idea of two separate ponds. It will sit in the current wildlife area and is meant to support varied wildlife habitats, with the planting around it refreshed.
The girls’ zone will be separate from, but close to, the junior play area. The Friends of West Bank Park will meet in November to settle what it contains, based on what people asked for. They may apply for outside funding if £25,000 is not enough. If they do, the build will be procured once the final budget is known.
The bike track is at an early stage. The Friends have offered to raise money to add to the £10,000.
How the projects were chosen
The Friends of West Bank Park ran two rounds of consultation for the council. The most supported ideas from the first round, in August and December 2025, included:
- renewing the north playground
- a pump bike track in the woods
- new biodiversity and pollinator planting
- large multi-use play equipment for the south playground
- a concrete-lined pond, in two possible places
- a space for girls
- a fenced dog park
- improvements to the tea and coffee hut
A second round in 2026 merged these into the four projects now funded. The Friends will look at fundraising for the ideas that were not picked.
Where the money came from
14 New Lane, on New Lane at the edge of the park, had been cut off from it by a 1.8m metal fence for more than 30 years. It was once the coach house or motor garage of the Backhouse estate, which the park grew out of.
In January 2025 the council decided not to rebuild it as park keeper accommodation, because park staff no longer need to live on site. The same decision approved taking the fence down once the building was demolished. That adds about 700 square metres to the park, roughly the size of two tennis courts, the report said. The remaining insurance money was kept for projects in the park.
What it means for you
- The playground and pond come first. Expect contractors in the north playground and the wildlife area once the designs are agreed. The decision gives no completion dates.
- You can still shape the girls’ zone. The Friends group decides its contents in November. Contact the Friends of West Bank Park to take part.
- Other York play areas are being rebuilt under a separate council fund. We tracked them in our parks investment story, and the York playgrounds page lists what each park has now.
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