A cutting the sod ceremony took place in Victoria Park this week to mark the start of the town’s £1.5 million regeneration.
The park is the first of four separate projects that will aim to transform the town.
And on Tuesday, town and borough councillors gathered with members of Newport Regeneration Partnership, work contractors and a landscape architect to place the first spade in the ground, officially kicking off the work.
Funded by the borough council via the Borough Town’s Initiative, the town council will foot the maintenance costs.
Chairman of the park’s working group within the Newport Regeneration Partnership, Eva Allan, said they had waited a long time for this moment.
“This is a very exciting moment because we have been asking for the park to be redeveloped for around 15 to 20 years,” said Eva.
“This will be the first project to take place in the wider regeneration of the town.
“It will be excellent for visitors and everyone who plays here and I am particularly looking forward to seeing all the different pathways.”
Plans see major changes to the existing car park, which will be shifted further into the park, freeing up space near the canal which will be turned into an informal picnic area.
The park will be levelled making a more even gradient to appeal to families, and an all-weather path has been devised to circulate around the perimeter.
Hedges will also be removed and replaced with iron fencing to give a better views.
The low lying marshland towards the canal area is being excavated and turned into a nature conservation zone, while there is also space for a play area, which is being separately designed by the borough council’s PlayBuilder scheme.
Landscape Architect Jenny Coates has designed the plans for the new-look park.
She said there were several large scale changes but added the work should be completed by the end May.
She said: “The most time consuming parts of the project will be relocating the car park and completing the marsh habitat.
“There is an existing waterway running alongside the car park and we will be digging down and extending this to create the marsh area.”
Other regeneration projects are being planned for the town High Street, Central Square and the canal area.