Delighted residents say revamped park is now ‘a wonderful place to be’
Residents celebrate the opening of revamped Sculcoates Park, Hull(Image: Hull City Council)
Significant improvements to a local park have transformed the space, ensuring it has become a more accessible and safer space for both young and old. Sculcoates Park has undergone significant improvements and now boasts an improved basketball court, fantastic lighting and even a chessboard for local people to play.
The work has been completed as part of Hull City Council ’s Stepney High Street Accelerator Pilot Programme. New footways and lighting have increased accessibility and safety for the community. Natural play equipment and fencing around the children’s play area mean it is going to be more popular with families too.
The popular sports area basketball court, complete with new hoops, has also been refurbished. The High Street Accelerator Partnership is a collaborative scheme between the council and local businesses, commercial property owners, community groups and other key stakeholders in the Stepney area.
John Scotney, Stepney Community Partnership chair, was thrilled to see the new park finally open to the public. He said: “Our park has come alive again. For too many years people avoided it, particularly after dark, but now it is just a wonderful place to be. We’ve got young people here playing basketball at eight in the morning until eight at night. Older people love to see it being used for the right reasons.
“It is just so much better for families, and children too. Parents know that there are areas here where their children can play safely. The work that has been done has opened up the whole area and really connected it to the Beverley Road Baths which are just around the corner. Hopefully we’ll see this kickstart some investment in businesses here because we want to see the whole area becoming stronger, friendlier and better connected.”
The work on the park was delivered alongside the community, through listening to what local people really wanted from their play spaces. The Tigers Trust was among the organisations involved in the community outreach, delivering detached youth work and a wide variety of sports sessions for young people.
Creating an accessible, safe space
Kayleigh Jackson, head of community, engagement and safeguarding at the Tigers Trust, paid tribute to the accessible partnership work that has seen the vision for the revitalised park become a reality.
She said: “There was so much anti-social behaviour here before. So, we really listened to what people wanted from the park and the important thing is now the park feels like a really safe space. And we have sports activities taking place every week – our sessions are only getting more popular.”
Central government support provided almost £750,000 to reinvigorate the high street and improve the vibrancy and visual appeal of the Stepney area and its surrounding green spaces. It was delivered as one of ten national pilots as part of the High Street Accelerator scheme.
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During 2024 and 2025 the partnership undertook several public surveys and delivered community engagement to understand the main priorities for the high street, learning how residents wanted to use their green spaces.
As a result of this the green space boasts improved pathways, better seating, cycleways, and a more accessible area for people with disabilities. The park could prove to be a benchmark for other areas around Hull, with council staff looking forward to working on revitalisation and regeneration projects in further active spaces around the city.
Ange Blake, assistant director of major projects and infrastructure, was thrilled with how the improved lighting and better footfall was already driving away anti-social behaviour from the park and its surrounding area.
She said: “It is great that this work has been led by the community and it has truly transformed this park which is so close to the centre of Hull. I think it could be a real benchmark for how we work with local people and with central government funding to create safe places. We are here to work with local people to make more of these type of projects happen.”
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