Welbeck Country Park

Wakefield Council is to create a new, large country park.

It will be on the site of the Welbeck landfill site near Normanton. Over time, the Council will open up 200 hectares of derelict land for the public to use and enjoy.

Welbeck Country Park will be a green space where people can be outside, be active and be around nature.

The Council has stated its commitment to creating a country park at Welbeck. In 2021, Cabinet approved £200,000 of funding for surveys needed before the Council can draw up plans.

The Council planted more than 6,000 trees there in 2022.

A group of people wearing hi-vis vests standing in a field, all holding shovels.

The site, to the east of Wakefield, is near to Normanton, Kirkthorpe, Stanley Ferry and City Fields. Around its edges are the River Calder and the Aire and Calder Navigation canal.

The area was a quarry before it became a landfill site in 1998.

The company running the landfill site still has permission to tip waste, but restoration has been taking place for several years. Some land is already back in the hands of the Council.

Welbeck Country Park will grow over a number of years as the company restore and release new sections.

In large parts of the site there is woodland, grassland and scrub already, as well as ponds and lakes. It has the Southern Washlands Nature Reserve, a Local Wildlife Site.

An otter in the grass near a body of water.

It is thought the area is already home to otters. It could support important animals like great-crested newts, bats, birds, water voles and reptiles.

The Council wants Welbeck Country Park to have a range of habitats so wildlife can flourish.

Another aim is for the park to be well-connected with local communities. It could join footpaths and bike trails like the Trans-Pennine Trail and National Cycle Route.

The park would help the Council with its ambition to reach net zero carbon emissions by having:

walking and cycling routes
areas for tree planting
wildlife habitats