A Cardiff park has been left looking like a "bomb site" after it re-opened to the public having been closed for nearly a year. Grangemoor Park in Grangetown was closed to the public in January last year as essential maintenance work was carried out on the former landfill site underneath it.
The park was initially due to be closed until the middle of June, but work continued until the end of the year, with the park finally re-opening in December. Get the latest news from across Cardiff sent straight to your inbox by signing up to our free newsletter.
However, while the long-awaited re-opening was welcomed by local residents last month, they have been left dismayed by the state that the park has been left in after the work was carried out. Photos show that sculptures in the park have been targeted with graffiti, while gates and entrances have been broken and made inaccessible.
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Benches have also been removed while speed limit signs used by contractors have been left up, with drivers reportedly entering the park in their cars after mistaking paths for roads. Tyre tracks have also been left on the grass, with parts of the green space now muddy and boggy.
Photos of the "dreadful" state of the park were posted online by community group Keep Grangetown Tidy following its re-opening. While thankful that they were able to use the "special" walking spot once again, members have been left saddened by how it has been left and have called on the council to rectify the situation.
In a post on Twitter, they wrote: "Great to see [Grangemoor] park open again after 11 months’ closure for remedial works. But surely it’s not going to be left like this @cardiffcouncil? It's in a dreadful state.
"The chain sculpture’s covered in graffiti and overgrown with brambles. Gates at entrances/ on Ely Trail path are broken so nothing to stop motorbikes/ other vehicles getting in. Plus gate from Dunleavy Drive car park is never locked anymore & we’ve seen cars driven in by people thinking it’s a road. Please get this sorted - it’s dangerous!
They added: "Benches have been knocked down by contractors (yes, this was a seat) or used for speed limit signs (still up). Some park entrances are inaccessible & hazardous. Generally it’s a mess! Grangemoor Park is a green space in built-up Grangetown that’s special to lots of local people. But after the works it looks like a bomb site. Nothing has been finished & the impact on the natural environment is devastating."
The park was closed for nearly all of 2022 as work was carried out to renew leachate and methane gas equipment on the former landfill site underneath the park. The site at Ferry Road, which took in 4 million tonnes of rubbish before its closure, has been leaking leachate into the Bay since at least 2017 due to a faulty collection system at the site.
When the closure was extended last summer, the council said it had considered fencing off some areas of the site to ensure some of the park remained accessible. However, they concluded that this would be "extremely difficult" to manage due to the nature of the work taking place.
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said that while the park had re-opened, work was still taking place at the site. They added that signs would be removed and gates repaired, while seating and bridges around the green space had been removed as they were considered dangerous.
“Grangemoor Park re-opened to the public at the earliest opportunity following 11 months of extensive works to repair underground infrastructure and enable the ongoing maintenance of the former landfill site on which the park was established," they said. “Although the majority of these works are now complete, work is still taking place to reinstate and improve this important green space for the Grangetown community, such as the removal of temporary signage and graffiti, the repair of gates, and the replacement of seating and bridges removed during the works as they were at the end of their life and were dangerous.
They added: "The site is home to some important natural habitats and although the site currently looks muddy following the recent very wet weather, the intention is to follow ecological advice and allow local species to re-establish over the next 6-12 months, rather than introducing commercial grass seed which could damage habitats and create issues for local species.”
“A management plan for the site is currently being prepared in conjunction with local community groups, with a view to protecting the site's unique features and increasing onsite opportunities for residents find out more about the habitats and species in the park, as well as its historic role as a landfill site and the impact that has on how the park is used and managed today.”
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