(Report number CAB/WS/23/050)
(Councillor Diane Hind wished it noted and recorded that she was
the Town Mayor of Bury St Edmunds)
The Cabinet considered this
report which explained that the Abbey Gardens was a green flag
award winning park which attracted around 1.3million visits per
year. Within the gardens stood the ruins of the former Abbey of St
Edmund. The current cathedral building
was one of the Abbey’s churches. The Abbey ruins were English
Heritage’s most visited ‘free to visit’ venue in
the country. Given its popularity as a visitor destination it
played a significant role in helping boost the local
economy.
Notwithstanding the above,
there were some significant challenges facing the site which
included:
• Paths in
the Abbey Gardens and routes around the ruins which were not
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant and were potentially
hazardous for visitors to navigate.
• A large
proportion of the ruins in the gardens were fenced off because of
erosion and English Heritage were financially unable to undertake
all of these repairs in a timely
fashion.
• Whilst
there had been new interpretation panels installed within the
Gardens, interpretation of the site as a whole
was poor.
The feedback from the NLHF concerning an
initial point of entry submission had been positively received.
Representatives from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) had
visited the site to observe what the key components of a bid would
include, these being:
• Conservation of the highly
vulnerable Abbey ruins.
• Improving and expanding
the footpath network around the former Abbey.
• Strengthening connectivity
between the Abbey, River Lark, Cathedral and Town.
• Increase biodiversity in
the Abbey area.
• Repurposing of an unused
cathedral building into a heritage welcome centre.
• Building of a west
cloister which would link the centre to the cathedral.
• Providing space for
community activities, exhibitions and
art installations.
Working in partnership, St Edmundsbury
Cathedral, West Suffolk Council, and English Heritage were
proposing to submit a joint stage one NLHF bid for funding to
address the challenges outlined above. The Cathedral would be the
lead applicant for this submission as the bulk of the capital spend
would be on their land.
In order to make
the bid, the NLHF would want to see a partnership agreement between
the Cathedral, the Council and English Heritage and this agreement
had been drafted and was currently being considered by each
partner. The Cathedral had appointed and were funding a consultant
to draw together the bid. West Suffolk Council were holding around
£250,000 of Section 106 funding ringfenced for the Abbey
Gardens which the Council could use as its contributory funding
towards the bid.
Councillor Ian Shipp, Portfolio
Holder for Leisure, drew relevant issues to the attention of the
Cabinet. He particularly wished to
thank Officers and Members for all of
their work in reaching this stage of the process. This work was also commended by the Leader of the
Council.
Resolved:
That:
1.
Having considered the merits of the proposed joint
National Heritage ...
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