Does Queen’s Park pose a problem?

Sharon Morrison raised concerns about the southside park after three-year-old son Nathan fell in the pond — and some readers agree, adding problems with litter, dog mess and facilities, while others argue that the park serves its purpose.

A new Friends of Queen’s Park group was resurrected in November. Founder Tony Halifax told The Extra: “We realised that Queen’s Park was the only one in Glasgow without a Friends group.

“The whole infrastructure is falling apart; the paving is poor, the children’s park is outdated and gates and railings are in poor condition.

“Queen’s Park is one of the nicest in Glasgow in terms of design — but not at the moment.”

Tony believes that Queen’s Park’s ‘district park’ status, said to serve the area in a 1.5 mile radius - as opposed to ‘city park’, which has the same facilities but attracts a large number of residents, national and international visitors - has held back funding from the local authority.

He added: “It’s a major park within Glasgow, and serves a densely-populated area, but all the money seems to go to the city parks, which are pristine and immaculate.

“We hope that we can change this, and get some funding to improve the place.”

The council established management plans for all of the city’s parks in 2011, detailing actions needed in a timeframe of 2011-2016 “to ensure Queen’s Park continues to provide high quality facilities that meet the needs of the community, whilst protecting the character of the park and at the same time contribute significantly to the economic and environmental regeneration of the city.”

A GCC spokesman responded that Green Flag status has since been awarded, and that there are ongoing works, including painting railings and gates.

Following reader concerns, southside central councillor Soryia Siddique plans a walk-through of the park to establish improvements needed.

She told The Extra that usage of Queen’s Park is to be supported, and added: “A team are servicing the bins and delittering the park on a daily basis, and there are currently discussions with cleansing to have additional, larger bins sited throughout.”

FoQP will make an appearance at an upcoming farmers marke — meanwhile, problems can be reported to the Friends of Queen’s Park Glasgow Facebook page.