Firms at failed Cornwall lottery-funded site fear future

Lianne Hooper says she's worried people will have "less of a reason" to visit the area and footfall will drop

Business owners at a mining heritage site say they are worried about their future after being told most facilities will have to close over rising costs.

Heartlands cafe, soft play centre and conference centre, in Pool, Cornwall, will shut at the end of January, Heartlands Trust announced.

Lianne Hooper, who has run Glow Beauty Clinic at Heartlands for the last three years, said the news was "shocking".

She said there would be fewer customers and it could "ruin" her business.

The community site, Heartlands, at the centre of a former mining area in one of the most impoverished parts of Cornwall, was opened in 2012 with more than £20m in lottery funding.

The Heartlands Trust charity, which employs about 40 people, said that it could not cover its operating costs with rising bills and falling income.

A conference centre, right, is due to close at Heartlands

Ms Hooper said the community appeal of Heartlands, which has four shops and a number of other small businesses, would be affected by the closures.

"People are going to have less of a reason to have a walk around Heartlands now and the footfall will decrease," she said.

"We're just going to get less customers. We just don't know where we're going to be in a few years' time or even now a few months' time."

She added that she had worked "so hard" for her beauty business and had seen it grow.

"It just might all end up going to ruin, so yes, I'm very worried," she said. "Really, we don't know what the future looks like at all."

Heartlands, at the centre of a former mining area in Pool, was opened in 2012 with more than £20m in lottery funding

The £35m visitor attraction at the Robinson's Shaft of the former South Crofty mine in Pool,received £22m from the Big Lottery Fund, the biggest grant it had given to a single project in England at the time.

Cornwall Council and the European Union also provided funding.

David Sillifant, chair of the trust, said finances had always been precarious after an increase in costs meant workshops which would have produced about £200,000 a year were not built.

"So we've been running with one hand tied behind our back," he said.

A decision by the National Lottery to freeze £500,000 in a sinking fund "precipitated the closure", he said.

"That would have kept us going, but unfortunately, we can't access it anymore," he said.

A spokesperson for the National Lottery said it was "disappointed" at the closure "as we always want projects we have funded to be sustainable and successful for the community".

It added: "However, we have a responsibility to ensure public money is well spent, which is why we have made this difficult decision."

The council, which owns the site, said it would maintain public access to the park and gardens, while the marriage registration service and commercially-let shops and offices would remain open.