Huge lottery cash handout
23 November 2009
Six of Britain's parks are sharing a huge cash handout of more than £18 million following grants awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund under the Parks for People programme.
The largest grant, of more than £4.3 million, goes to Stewart Park in Middlesbrough, a 47-hectare park opened in 1928 and best-known as the birthplace of Captain Cook.
The grant will allow the cleaning and restoration of the park's lakes as well as providing a new visitor centre. Several Victorian buildings in the park, including a loggia, Doric temple and memorial vase, are to be opened to the public and there are also plans to open a vocational training centre within the Victorian walled garden.
“This is a tribute to the huge amount of hard work that has gone into the bid,” said Middlesbrough councillor Paul Thompson, one of the project's leaders. “It will help to develop this hugely important asset for generations to come.”
Other winners are Spinney Hill Park in Leicester, St James's Park in Southampton, Howard Park and Gardens in Letchworth Garden City, Stamford Park in Tameside and Queens Park in Bolton.
The Parks for People initiative is funded from money raised through the National Lottery, currently celebrating its 15th anniversary. The scheme has given £150 million in grants to public parks over the last three years.
Carole Souter, chief executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, called on the public to back their local park to make sure funding continues well into the future.
“These are difficult times,” she commented. “It would be terrible if parks budgets were cut: all the good work of the last 15 years could so easily be undone.”
It's thought around half the population visit a park at least once a week, yet a 2001 report by the Urban Parks Forum found evidence of a long-term decrease in funding, with nearly two-fifths of parks and open spaces considered to be in a declining state.
Find out more about the Heritage Lottery Fund
Find out more about Parks for People
Find out more about Middlesborough Council