Agenda item

Report number: CAB/WS/23/050

Portfolio holder: Councillor Ian Shipp

Lead officer: Mark Walsh

Resolved:

That:

1.           Having considered the merits of the proposed joint National Heritage Lottery bid, with St Edmundsbury Cathedral and English Heritage, the pursuing of the stage one bid submission, be agreed.

2.           The Director (Operations) be authorised to agree the final stage one submission documents, in consultation with the other partners to the bid and based on approval from the S151 Officer and Portfolio Holder for Leisure.

3.           £250,000 be allocated, in principle, from the Section 106 funding already earmarked for improvements in the Abbey Gardens to the delivery phase of the project as contributory funding, should the bid be successful at stage one development phase.

(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 Lottery bid, with St Edmundsbury Cathedral and English Heritage, the pursuing of the stage one bid submission, be agreed.

2.           The Director (Operations) be authorised to agree the final stage one submission documents, in consultation with the other partners to the bid and based on approval from the S151 Officer and Portfolio Holder for Leisure.

3.           £250,000 be allocated, in principle, from the Section 106 funding already earmarked for improvements in the Abbey Gardens to the delivery phase of the project as contributory funding, should the bid be successful at stage one development phase.