09 May 2008
UK parks get £11m in lottery funding
BY Caroline Wilkinson
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) have invested £11m to help regenerate four parks across the UK as part of HLF’s Parks for People scheme.
The two lottery funds are working in partnership to deliver £160m worth of grants for the purpose of regenerating UK parks over three years -– BIG is investing £90m and up to £70m is coming from the HLF.
“Parks play a vital role in improving wellbeing, the environment and community life. Our continued investment in Parks for People will ensure that communities will benefit from this funding all year round,” said Sir Clive Booth, chair of BIG.
On this occasion, £4.5m has been invested in Clifton Park, a 56-acre site surrounding the Victorian Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham. The funds will go towards restoring the Memorial Gardens, Cenotaph and Memorial Rock Garden. It will also boast a new garden house and restored bandstand.
Similarly, £3.2m has been granted for the restoration of the bandstand and Grade II-listed shelters, pavilions and the East Park Lodge at Roberts Park in Bradford. It was formerly known as Salt Park after Sir Titus Salt, the founder of its nearby Victorian village Saltaire. A statue of him will be restored in the park and a new play area will also be added.
The rest of the funding will be split between Hertfordshire’s Rose Garden in Bushey, which was designed by landscape architect Thomas Mawson in 1912, and the South Park Gardens in Wimbledon, London. Both will have their horticultural and listed features restored.
Also HLF and BIG have given the green light for detailed grant applications to be developed for 11 parks across the country amounting to £32m. These include Lordship Recreation Ground in London, Stewart Park in Middlesbrough and Stamford Park in Tameside, all of which are applying for grants of more than £250,000.
For detail on the grants: www.hlf.org.uk
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