Why there were diggers on Leicester’s Victoria Park this morning

People who live or work near Victoria Park may have spotted diggers there this morning. Builders were seen surrounded by mounds of dirt on the attraction’s community field.

A spokesman for Leicester City Council said work had started on a new bandstand. The £125,000 project is expected to be completed by the summer, they added.

The new bandstand is to be built in the park more than 100 years after the original version was removed. There was a bandstand in the park until 1923 when it moved to the city’s Abbey Park, the council said.

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The new octagonal bandstand will be made of black steel with gold details and will have two rows of benches on either side of the performance area. It is being built in the community field in the park, an area opposite the junction of Queens Road and Victoria Park Road, and is planned to become “a focal point for future community activities and events”.

At the time of the application for planning permission for the kiosk, some concerns were raised about potential noise nuisance from the feature. However, the planning officer who approved the application said he did not believe there would be “an unacceptable impact on the amenity. enjoyed by the occupiers of the nearest residential properties, nor even on the surrounding non-residential uses”.

A city council spokesman told LeicestershireLive today: “Work is underway to build a new bandstand on Victoria Park. The idea came from Friends of Victoria Park, now Friends of Clarendon Park, as a venue for events as well as providing a new focal point in the park’s community field area.

“The new stand will cost around £125,000 and will be funded using Section 106 developer contributions linked to the University of Leicester student housing development on Freemen’s Common. The work is expected to be completed in early summer.” Section 106 contributions are payments that developers agree to make to offset the impact of their projects on local communities.