News and Events

Local MP praises work BU students are doing to make Meyrick Park safer

27 January 2012

Conor Burns MP (Second left) with BU students

Conor Burns MP praises the work being carried out by BU students to improve the safety of Meyrick Park.

Conor Burns MP visited Meyrick Park on Thursday 26 January to see first hand the work that Bournemouth University students are doing to make the area safer. The park has become a notorious spot for adult anti-social behaviour with people taking advantage of the thick undergrowth to hide behind. Students from The Meyrick Park Conservation team, part of The Hub, have been working hard on Wednesday afternoons since last October to cut back the bushes.

The MP for Bournemouth West praised the work that the volunteers are doing: “I think students do a very good job, both for the local economy and the local community. I see all the time as I engage with the Students’ Union that there are groups of students doing good in the community in Bournemouth, but they are not shouting about it enough. This great conservation project, in Meyrick Park, in the centre of Bournemouth is a fantastic thing to have done.”

One of the organisers of the project, Jessie Banovic, communications officer at BU, commented: “Working at Meyrick Park with the student volunteers has been so beneficial for many reasons. Working on a local community project with local stakeholders just makes us realise how much positive impact we can have and to be proud of our local natural parks. We look forward to making more progress this spring.”

The students have been working with Dorset Police’s Meyrick and Talbot Safer Neighbourhood Team. PC Jill Lavin said: “We asked the students to help us cut back the rhododendron and holly bushes, which will impact on stopping certain activities which happen in the park. It opens the area up to families, dog walkers and other people who may have avoided the area in the past. I think the students have done a really good job and are making really good progress. We have had lots of positive feedback from the community.”