People who got fed up of their park becoming a dumping ground for rubbish have taken it upon themselves to give it a spring clean.

Neighbours of The Highams Park off The Charter Road filled 17 bags with litter when around 20 of them joined forces to spruce up the public land earlier this month.

They have now formed a group and the Friends of The Highams Park are intent on restoring the open space to its former glory.

Chairman of the Friends, Paul Corney, who uses the park a lot since taking his children there a decade ago, said: “The turnout was fantastic. There’s people we’ve never met before but we all got on like family.

“Everybody in their own individual way is very appreciative of the park and it’s about time we did something to look after it.”

The park is not one of Waltham Forest Council’s open spaces with the national Green Flag status, which denotes well-managed parks, but the group is determined to make it better.

Mr Corney said: “It’s just looking a little bit tired. There’s so many people who use it, from dog walkers to runners, and we just want to make it somewhere great to go, rather than simply letting it get bad.”

The group hopes to get the council to run more summer events there as well as planning its own running competitions.

And Mr Corney hopes the group can lobby the authority for funding to replace the rusted main gates, as well as to get new equipment for the ageing play area and to replace vandalised signs.

A more long-term aim is to provide toilets and a cafe where people can sit and enjoy their lunch.

But the newly formed Friends have already managed to find ward forum cash to create a wooden exercise area which is now just weeks away from opening, said Mr Corney.

The equipment is designed for children and adults to use to keep fit, and the chairman hopes it will encourage more families to use the park.

He said: “We’re proud of that. Because it’s all made of wood it blends in nicely. We think especially older people using the park can take advantage of that as well as children.

“It’s a really lovely open space and we are going to bang the drum about that and get the council to help us make it better.”