Money pours in to secure park’s future
An historic Newark park is set to be transformed after more than £1m in lottery money was secured to pay for the work.
The Heritage Lottery Fund announced on Wednesday that a £1.13m bid by Newark and Sherwood District Council for Sconce and Devon Park had been successful.
It is the biggest lottery grant the council has ever secured and will pay for the majority of a £1.8m scheme to improve the appearance and accessibility of the park.
The scheme includes a new visitors’ centre and cafe, and a new children’s play area.
The plans also include the demolition of a toilet block that would be replaced by new public toilets, an office for the park ranger, a display and seating exhibition area, and a food kiosk.
New footpaths will be laid to improve accessibility and a 20-metre steel bridge installed to allow visitors to reach the top of the Queen’s Sconce.
Interpretation boards featuring a cartoon character called Sconny and giving the history of the park will be installed around the site.
The character has been designed in a similar star shape as the sconce.
Although nothing will be built on top of the sconce, a ground-mounted bronze relief showing how the surrounding area would have looked during the English Civil War has been planned.
The council’s portfolio holder for parks and open spaces, Mrs Nora Armstrong, said it was the second Heritage Lottery Fund bid that Newark had won following a £600,000 grant to improve the grounds of Newark Castle ten years ago.
“For a small town that is fantastic,” she said.
The money is from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund as part of the Parks for People programme.
The council’s parks and amenities manager, Mr Phil Beard, said the Friends of Sconce and Devon Park had played a key role in the winning bid.
He said the four-year process had not been easy and involved a number of setbacks.
“We were refused once, but they encouraged us to come back and to do more work on the activity side of things and the way we would attract a new audience,” he said.
Mr Beard said the improvements could attract an extra 50,000 visitors a year on top of the 100,000 who go to the park now.
He said, however, that they did not want to swamp the park with people.
“We want to do something that is suitable and means that people who use the park at the moment don’t feel pushed out at all,” he said.
The chairman of the Friends of Sconce and Devon Park, Mr Darren Barker, said: “It’s great that we have finally been awarded the money after all the hard work that everyone has put in.”
Mr Barker said the plans would make a massive improvement to the park and improve access to the Queen’s Sconce, which is the best preserved landmark of its kind in Europe.
He said the improvements were also important as the park would form part of a green corridor leading up to the proposed Newark Growth Point area.
The lottery money will pay for the position of park ranger for the next five years, which has been held since last year by Mr Peter Dixon.
“It will be absolutely fantastic for the whole district to have this place looking the way it should,” said Mr Dixon.
He said the sconce was a hidden gem for the town and hoped the improvements would attract more visitors.
The chairman of Newark Civic Trust, Mr George Wilkinson, said: “This is an opportunity to really put Sconce Hills on the map.”
Mr Wilkinson said the improved park would be one more reason for tourists to come to Newark and would be good for the town.
“We are becoming more and more reliant on tourism,” he said.
Work at the park is due to begin early next year, with completion expected by May 2010. It is hoped the new improved park will be officially opened as part of Sconcefest in July 2010.
The remaining cost of the scheme will be met through the district council’s capital programme, the Alliance Sub-regional Strategic Partnership, Nottinghamshire County Council’s Building Better Communities programme and other grants.
The council has made a successful bid for £50,000 to the Landfill Communities Waste Fund of Waste Recycling Group Ltd, distributed by Wren. That money will pay for the bridge to the Queen’s Sconce and interpretation boards and leaflets.
The steel bridge will be at the north-eastern side of the sconce.
The design has been inspired by the Bailey Bridge, many of which were built at the Bowbridge Army Camp in Newark, although it may need to be altered slightly on the recommendation of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Queen’s Sconce was built during the English Civil War of 1642-51 to protect the southern approaches to Newark from the Parliamentarian forces of Oliver Cromwell.
It covers an area of three acres and was built in 1644 using gravel from the River Devon floodplain, which was strengthened by timber posts and pegs.
The £1.8m scheme follows the results of a survey in 2004, paid for by English Heritage and carried out by consultants Landscape Design Associates, on behalf of the council.
English Heritage, which must approve any work, agreed that visitors should be allowed to reach the top of the sconce to appreciate its shape, height and views of the area.