Community group wants councillors to provide 'protection in perpetuity' for popular Leamington park

Victoria Park was opened as a 'people’s park' in 1899 and has remained a prime site for family recreation ever since. However, at various times the park has been threatened by developments.

The Friends of Victoria Park is continuing to campaign for Warwick District Council to agree a 'Deed of Dedication' with Fields in Trust - a UK charity that works to protect parks and green spaces - to ensure that any potential plans could be stopped.

In 1992, plans for a huge indoor Bowls Centre in the middle of the park were only thwarted by the intervention of the government’s Environment Secretary. Most recently, in 2018, plans to tarmac two separate parts of the park were voted down by the planning committee.

On each occasion, groups of park users and residents coordinated opposition to the plans by enlisting the support of local organisations, councillors and media. In 2018, it was the Friends of Victoria Park who led the campaigning and, less than a year later, it proposed that the council agree a Deed of Dedication with Fields in Trust to ensure that any potentially harmful plans could be prohibited in future.

David Adams. chair of the Friends of Victoria Park, said: “Nearly 3,000 councils throughout the UK have already formed legal agreements with Fields in Trust. The councils retain ownership and management of their parks but major new developments outside the normal use of the parks have to be approved by Fields in Trust.

"So, for instance, public recreation would carry on as normal in Victoria Park but any proposals for major structural developments from a new, and less benign, council leadership might be blocked.”

“In 2021, discussions involving senior council officers and lawyers, together with Fields in Trust and Friends of Victoria Park, were progressing well but subsequent advances have been painfully slow although such deeds are under further review once again.”

“Now, there’s to be a mid-September by-election in Clarendon Ward which includes Victoria Park and the Friends are encouraging park supporters to ask local candidates, and sitting councillors, to commit to making all reasonable efforts to ensure that Warwick District Council enters into a Deed of Dedication for Victoria Park no later than 2026.”

He added: “As a community group, we are strictly non-political but already we have been assured of support from some councillors and a relevant post on our Facebook page has had well over two thousand views – an indication of just how many residents in Leamington and Warwick are concerned to future-proof their favourite park.”

For further information see https://www.facebook.com/friendsofvictoriaparkleamington

To enjoy a free History Group Walk in Victoria Park and its environment on Tuesday September 2, find booking details at https://leamingtonhistory.co.uk/town-walks-programme-2025/

A spokesperson for Warwick District Council said: “Warwick District Council is committed to looking into the Fields in Trust request from the Friends of Victoria Park, along with similar requests from Friends groups from other parks and is looking at ways to deliver this.

"A report on this matter is scheduled to go to cabinet.”