English parks set to benefit from £24m grants
- Published
Stoke-on-Trent City Council plans to restore Hanley Park's pavilion to its former glory
Run-down parks in England are to be regenerated thanks to almost £24m in lottery grants.
The 12 awards include cash for two cemeteries in Coventry and on the Isle of Wight.
A spokesman for the Heritage Lottery and Big lottery funds said it would allow the parks, many of them in some of the UK's most deprived communities, to be "transformed".
They include £4.5m for Hanley Park in Stoke-on-Trent.
One of the biggest Victorian parks in the UK, it was built for local miners to relax and play sports.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council said the money would be used to restore a 19th Century pavilion, and make improvements to the boathouse, canal bridges, the lake and fountains, as well as revamp green spaces on the 60-acre site.
Work is expected to start in spring 2016 and take 18 months to complete.
How Hanley Park pavilion once looked
It is one of the biggest grants from the two lottery funds.
Some of the projects, including Springfield Park in Hackney, Great Yarmouth Venetian Waterways and West Smethwick Park in Sandwell have been allocated funding, but need to go through a second round to confirm.
The largest single grant, worth £4.8m went to West Smethwick Park, with plans to build a new pavilion and restore historical features, such as the bandstand and memorials.
In Yarmouth, a £1m grant will go towards the restoration of the Venetian-style water gardens, including bringing back much of the original planting and regenerating the waterways themselves, which the HLF said had deteriorated since the 1980s.
Sir Peter Luff, chair of the Heritage Lottery Fundl, said it was "vital" to protect the country's green spaces, particularly those in towns and cities.
Preston's Winckley Square Gardens will see statues restored as well as new lighting and flood prevention measures
Preston's Winckley Square Gardens has been awarded £950,000 to "address many years of decline" in what the HLF described as "one of the finest examples of a Georgian square in the North of England".
The project will see the Robert Peel statue restored, new lighting and meeting places, as well as work to solve flooding problems.
The HLF is also funding four projects worth £10m in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Lottery funded projects in England
Confirmed grants:
Chase Park, Gateshead - £922,900
Peel Park, Salford- £1,572,800
Winckley Square Gardens, Preston - £942,600
Northwood Cemetery, Isle of Wight- £1,685,100
Hanley Park, Stoke on Trent - £4,579,300
Earmarked funding:
West Smethwick Park, Sandwell - £4,830,700
Victoria Park, Stafford - £1,705,100
Hunstanton Heritage Gardens, West Norfolk - £685,400
Great Yarmouth Venetian Waterways - £1,020,800
Springfield Park, Hackney - £3,194,100
Thompson Park, Burnley - £860,100
London Road Cemetery, Coventry - £1,998,000