Dock Park in Dumfries is one step closer to receiving £987,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)

Dock Park, DumfriesDumfries and Galloway Council are past the first round of the bidding process and have recieved £34,250 of development funding from the HLF to help progress plans for the restoration of the park. If the second-round bid for £987,800 of funding from the HLF is secured, it will be match funded by the Council (approved in PHE Committee February 2010) and could lead to a range of work taking place to revitalise the park such as:

  • Improvement of the northern entrance of the park and the car park.
  • Refurbishment of historic features like the 19th century bandstand.
  • Extension and improvements to the existing play areas to broaden the range of people catered for e.g. senior citizens.
  • The creation of an events and gathering space which will also support a range of ball games
  • Introduce a re-planting plan for the park
  • Renovate the bowling pavilion to provide toilets, changing facilities etc
  • Restoration of the maze and Kelly’s shelter

Cllr Roger Grant Chair of Planning Housing and the Environment Services Committee said:

“As regional capital, Dumfries is key to the Council’s regeneration plans and leisure and recreation have an important role to play. Dock Park is the oldest park in Dumfries and I am delighted that many of its historic features such as the bandstand will be restored. However, to ensure future use, the park needs to move with the times and offer much more.

These are challenging times economically but the match funding was approved back in February of this year, so if we receive the money from the HLF then we can hit the ground running”

Today’s announcement means the Council now has two years to submit full proposals and will be working closely with the HLF to ensure any work compliments future regeneration projects such as the Ladyfield development at the Crichton.

Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said;

“Summer is finally here, and it’s the perfect time to enjoy our public parks. It’s important everyone in our towns and cities has somewhere free, green and open to enjoy in their leisure time. This joint investment from HLF and BIG is helping to do exactly that by ensuring parks continue to be looked after and have a major role to play at the very heart of their local communities.”

Filed under: Community Submitted News

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!