Ambition for improvements to historic Sheffield park
One of Sheffield’s oldest parks is earmarked for a series of improvements including outdoor gym equipment, playground updates and more benches.
Norfolk Heritage Park in the Norfolk Park suburb dates back to the 1840s and is grade II* listed by Historic England. Two grand entrances are also listed.
Work started in 2025 on an improvement plan for the park, which involved Sheffield City Council staff and councillors and park stakeholders, including the Friends of Norfolk Heritage Park.
This resulted in a five-year plan dating to 2031.
A report to next week’s meeting of Sheffield City Council’s charity trustee sub-committee (March 9) suggests seeking funding to carry out a list of improvements.
The park is owned by a charitable trust of which the council is sole trustee. The sub-committee oversees all decisions as council corporate trustee.
Degrade
The suggestions follow on from community consultation carried out by the Friends group. They include an outdoor gym, more benches to rest on the hilly site, renewal of the cricket strip surface, replacing the playground fence and surfacing, resurfacing the paths and dealing with drainage issues.
A report to the committee warns: “By doing nothing, the quality of Norfolk Park and its recreational facilities will continue to degrade.
“This would result in the park becoming a less desirable place to visit and there would be a decline and reduction in its recreational value.
“Infrastructure failure could result which would have health and safety implications for park users.
“There would also be implications and impact on the site’s heritage status. These outcomes would not be in the interest of the charity.”