AN OXFORD park is to be put forward for prestigious Green Flag status.

Fans of Bury Knowle Park, off London Road, Headington, want to follow in the footsteps of Hinksey, Florence, Cutteslowe and Sunnymead parks and get the park recognised as welcoming, safe and clean under the scheme.

Oxford City Council’s parks department has come up with a 10-year management plan for the park which will go with the application, due to be considered by the council’s north east area committee tonight.

In June, a Friends of Bury Knowle Park group was formed, and now has more than 60 members.

Chairman Rosemary Belton, of Latimer Road, said she was excited about the prospect of the park gaining Green Flag status.

She said: “It had been allowed to sort of slide a bit and I think this is a real opportunity to perk it up and make it a real facility for everybody in the area.

“A lot of people live in that part of town and it has got the potential to be something great.

“Hopefully going for green flag status will get some things moving.”

As well as being asked to endorse the management plan, the north east area committee is being asked to consider funding towards a range of improvements.

These include four new welcome signs, at a cost of £4,800, car park repairs costing £8,400 and a new picnic bench and improved entrance from Chestnut Avenue, costing £2,500.

Mrs Belton said the group was also keen to see further improvements.

She said: “We have the play area for younger children but there isn’t much for older junior school and teenage children.

“It would be really good if we could have something perhaps more adventurous for them.

“We would also like to have a walking trail marked out so people know if they have walked round this, they have done a half mile.”

She said noticeboards could also make a real difference in telling people what the park had to offer.

She said: “There are tennis courts and crazy golf, so to have a bit more publicity so people are aware these things are here would be helpful.”

The Friends group has already been getting involved, planting 500 daffodil bulbs in December to brighten up the flower beds.