PURFLEET now boasts another park, opened on Friday (28 March), by the Mayor of Thurrock, Cllr Tony Fish.
The Mardyke Pocket Park is the final piece in a series of Thurrock Council Greengid projects in the West Thurrock and Purfleet area providing environmental improvements over the past three years.
Work at the pocket park has seen grass areas opened up and play features added as well as an “edible” hedge – offering a chance for visitors to pick berries and nuts from the hedgerow in years to come.
Local people also played their part, putting forward design ideas for the park.
Overall, the projects include improvements to highway verges on the Arterial Road and Purfleet By-pass removing illegally parked lorries and increasing the areas of wildflowers and biodiversity.
Two safer crossing have also been built as part of Thurrock’s Green Links. One is on Footpath 16 as it crosses West Thurrock Way and the other is on Tank Hil Lane, linking the Mardyke Estate to Spiderfield and the RSPB Purfleet Centre.
The aim of the projects is to help link communities and provide better access to open spaces, schools and employment.
Another project in the scheme to improve underused and under-valued green space in Purfleet was around the woodlands close to the Purfleet Heritage Museum and Centurion Way.
This was part of a Garrison Estate clean-up day and planting days last year.
All the project were funded from a range of sources including uncommitted Section 106 allocations and with help from the council’s partners and other council departments.
