'This is our park' – Inside Walker’s fightback against anti-social behaviour scourge

Дата публикации: 25-07-2026 23:02:00

Walker Park has been packed with families enjoying a sun-drenched week of free activities, with organisers hoping it can boost confidence in a beautiful green space plagued by arson and vandalism

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A Newcastle community is uniting in a mission to reclaim a beloved green space blighted for too long by anti-social behaviour. Scenes of hundreds of people basking in a week of summer fun in Walker Park this week marked a welcome change from the negativity that has too often surrounded the East End gem over recent years.

The annual Walker Outdoor Week (WOW) is expected to have brought around 1,600 people into the park, with a raft of free activities aimed at helping families at the start of the school holidays and also boosting public confidence in the park itself. Walker Park is just one of four in Newcastle to hold the coveted Green Flag award, with the others being the flagship sites of Jesmond Dene, Exhibition Park, and Leazes Park.

But the area was recently described as “lawless” by locals left frightened to use it because of repeated incidents of arson, vandalism, and groups of youths riding bikes and motorbikes. Julie Cooper, secretary of Walker Central Football Club, runs the park cafe where more than 1,000 free lunches have been handed out over the past few sun-drenched days.

The football club decided to take over the cafe in a bid to reach out further into the community and provide opportunities for kids with interests outside of football. It has since been used to host festive parties, local markets, music classes, and special events for youngsters with special needs.

Julie told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We know the bother in Walker. Most people who live here have been here all their lives. I have been here 20 years, but I didn’t have much to do with the park until my boys started playing football. It is all about bringing the community into the park and turning it around from a place where people didn’t want to come into. We see all the boys on their bikes and the troublemakers, but they have been no problem with us.

“They come in and they are respectful and polite, we have a really good relationship with them. Some of them might go and cause issues elsewhere, but we don’t have those issues.”

Newcastle City Council bosses have decided to start closing the park at dusk every night in order to deter anti-social behaviour. Julie believes that shutting the gates has made a “real difference”, even if it has not been a universally popular policy, and has stopped people coming in on quad bikes and tearing up the park’s football pitches.

Connor Campbell has been involved with the club since the age of five and is now a coach. Speaking in between free football sessions during the WOW extravaganza, the 26-year-old said it was “great to see the park being used correctly” and having “a bit more of a purpose”.

He added: “I think the park did go downhill a bit. But we know what the community in Walker is capable of and we want to be able to give back when we can. Some of the young people involved in the anti-social behaviour forget that they might have the opportunity to do this one day and that they might have kids themselves.

“Looking at social media in the last few months, I think people have felt intimidated about coming to the park. When I was a kid there used to be different events on all the time and there is a lot that could be brought back. Maybe that has been absent for a bit too long, but things are starting to head in the right direction.”

The attractions in the park this week included a rock-climbing wall, hair braiding, and giant inflatables, with more than 50 local organisations involved. Will Benson, from Kids Kabin, had a long queue of youngsters eagerly waiting to make pottery with him when he spoke to the LDRS.

Will said: “There are a lot of good local organisations that care about the community. What we are trying to do is create a positive feeling and use the park as positively as we can. It is difficult for people to keep their kids entertained for the whole of the summer holidays. Whether you are working or not, you might not have the money. So the more of these events that we can run, the better.”

WOW has been running for 20 years and, backed by the council’s holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, has grown from humble beginnings when it would reach 60 to 70 children. Organiser Stacey Davidson, from The Bostey, said she wanted to ensure there was “something for everyone” that could encourage more people to use what is an “amazing” park.

She added: “We are working with the young people who have been creating this anti-social behaviour and we want to give them a safe space to take them away from that.”

The next phase of regeneration for the park will be a £415,000 investment to build two new Playzones – a 3G pitch and a separate tarmac games area, which will be operated by the football club. Free football, netball, and cricket sessions are expected to be delivered at the Playzones, which locals will also be able to book for free or at reduced prices.

The city council also announced an extra £1.4 million of promised upgrades to parks around Newcastle earlier this week. Peter Lovatt, the council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local services, said that he hoped that events like WOW would increase people’s confidence in going to the park and enable them to play a bigger role in its future.

The Lib Dem councillor added: “I know we have had some incidents in the past in Walker Park, but it has just retained its Green Flag award. We want people to say ‘This is our park, this is our community, and we want to look after it’.”

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