The North Village Community Trust will be putting in some extra time at the William Wilson Park on St. Monica's Road in an effort to get the remaining work done so it can open before summer.

Trust secretary Joy Wilson-Tucker said last night that they were disappointed to read in The Royal Gazette yesterdaythat at least one resident felt more needed to be done.

"We're working as hard and as fast as we can," she said, adding that so far only Trust members and their families were working on the property.

Mrs. Wilson-Tucker said the park was still a work in progress and despite attempts to keep residents from using it, this was not the case.

"The reason we haven't put the swings up yet is because we don't really want children using the park until we've secured it for them," she said.

The vacant lot behind the park is currently overgrown with weeds and strewn with broken glass and some litter which will be cleaned up before the official opening.

This area will also be fenced off to make it more secure for children.

But Mrs. Wilson-Tucker said they did hope to use one of these two vacant lots to eventually enlarge the park.

The other vacant lot belonged to a private individual and despite their best attempts to secure it, they could not, she said.

One of the concerns a resident raised was access to the park for strollers.

There are currently two entrances to the park and both have walk-through barriers to prevent bicycles from gaining access.

Mrs. Wilson-Tucker said the Trust was discussing the issue of access to strollers with the landscaper.

The round concrete slab to the right of the park will not house a merry-go-round as was first thought, but in fact a statue of Mrs. Wilson Tucker's grandfather whom the park is named after.

Meanwhile, Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield reminded residents that the park was a "partnership with area residents".

"Residents come up with their own environmental improvement schemes, residents help to implement them and we at the Ministry of Environment provide the lion's share of the financial and technical support," she said.

Ms Butterfield said she was pleased with work on the park so far.

"The North Village Trust and Advisory Committee has worked extremely hard to make it a reality," she said.

She said the project had already brought about a measure of unity in the community and many have developed a new-found pride in their neighbourhood and were reclaiming open spaces.

Ms Butterfield said the Community Areas Programme, a Social Agenda initiative, is an environmental improvement scheme for Bermuda's high density neighbourhoods which depends, for its success, on a high level of co-operation between residents and technical officers.