One of the largest parks in Lancashire has been given the green light for a major £250,000 facelift that will benefit the half a million people who visit it every year.
Often described as the ‘jewel in Burnley’s crown’, Towneley Park extends over 440 acres and hosts a number of leisure activities and events throughout the year, alongside the museum and art gallery at Towneley Hall.
But as part of the 2024 masterplan to rejuvenate the popular outdoor space, many of the more than 11 miles of well-trodden tracks and pathways that snake through the park are due for an upgrade.
At a meeting of the Burnley Council Executive on Monday (June 8), the borough agreed to put the £250,000 in pathing improvements out to tender, after 470 residents called for change in a public consultation.
Some called for new trails through the expansive park, with one Burnley resident writing: “Create more paths through the woodland, I do the walk every week and feel there is so much more ground to create more paths through it.”
Others called for urgent repairs. “Please re surface the paths. They are in a dreadful state,” one wrote.
These hundreds of responses in October, 2025, were used to support an application for funding from the FCC Community Action Fund, which resulted in a grant of £100,000.
A matching sum has also been secured from the UK Government’s Pride In Place initiative to fund community projects, with the borough hoping to secure the remaining £50,000 from a third party.
The final plan for the works is still being designed and will have to go through a procurement process, but should widen some paths being used by the popular Park Run and restore others that could pose accessibility issues.
The works should also create more paths throughout Towneley, opening up new ways to experience the park which has been at the heart of Burnley since it was purchased for its people in 1902.
While seconding the agenda item at the Executive meeting to set the wheels in motion on the park’s path improvements, Councillor Lishman also welcomed the project
The deputy leader and Executive Member for Resources and Performance Management said: “I would just like to say how delighted I am to see that we are doing this work.
“The park is such a well-used facility for everybody and upgrading for the disabled people who use it is an absolute must for us.”
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