A CALL has been made for Thurrock Council to offer more support for a town centre park – and for members of the local community to step forward and help make a focal point for residents and an improved open space.

The Friends of Corringham Town park are hoping the focus of new publicity might bring about improvements and fulfil promises made more than four years ago.

The park, which is a green lung for the town centre does feature a children's play area, a fitness park and is home to the Karis May Darling Foundation's community venue.

However, its paths and some of the communal areas like the playground and bike track are somewhat careworn.

Indeed, in the wake of a visit by Thurrock Nub News today (Thursday, 28 January) local residents have told how a number of them have been injured after tripping on the uneven, damaged and badly lit paths. One local lady suffered a broken wrist after falling and another suffered a badly damaged knee following her trip and tumble.

Julie Sorrell-Wilde is a well known figure in the local community and she is taking a leading role in the campaign to restore the park's glory – but she needs help.

She said: "It would be nice if more volunteers to come forward to help with Zoom meetings and future planning.

"I had a failed application for new equipment, revamp of the skateboard park and a sensory garden last year as I had no real support for filling in forms.

"Hopefully there's someone with more expertise out there who could help.

"I would love to get a small volunteer group up and running."

Julie is critical of the way the park appears to have been low down on the council's pecking order for investment.

"A number of parks across the borough have had upgrades and repairs, while other than the creation of the outdoor gym area in 2011 and the Karis May Darling build, things appear to have passed Corringham by.

The outdoor adi-zone gym which cost about £160,000 and was funded by money from Partnership for Schools, Veolia Mardyke Trust, Corringham and Community Forum and Thurrock Council is still open.

In its early days it was beset by vandalism issues but now appears to have stood the test of time.

Not so the other play areas in the park which could do with some maintenance, while some of the paths are definitely in a dangerous condition – as evidenced by residents' stories.

Julie added: "About four years ago our then councillor Roy Jones put in a lot of work on behalf of the park and we were promised that a lot would happen. Roy's been and gone and we thank him for his efforts and passion about the park but the reality is nothing has been done.

"The pathways are not suitable more many people to visit the park in safety and would need to be repaired before any new plans could go ahead. Lighting in the park would also be appreciated.

"I hope that with a little but of help from local people we can focus attention on the park again and this time the council will do more than talk and come in and show some commitment to Corringham."

Julie can be contacted via email at [email protected] or you can join the Friends of Corringham Town Park on Facebook or Instagram.