Work has begun this week on restoring Scarborough's South Cliff Gardens which will see a number of improvements made to it's facilities.
The £7m project has been in the planning for several years and is being funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund.
The restoration project aims to preserve the gardens’ unique heritage and improve them in a way that will reconnect them with today’s residents and visitors, in the same way that the original gardens did more than one hundred years ago.
David Auton is Chair of the South Cliff Community Group, he says the work is going to take some time.
David says the idea is to make the gardens accessible to everyone and give them a family feel with new facilities.
Phase 1 of the major capital works starting this month will include the construction of the new community building, which local people have affectionately named ‘Beeforth’s Hive’ after George Lord Beeforth who was instrumental in shaping the gardens. Works on the building are due to be complete in November.
The restoration of the recently listed and historically significant Tugwell shelter and octagonal shelter below the putting green have also been included and prioritised in the first phase of works.
Phase two works will start in June and include ground drainage, further shelter works and the works to the new accessible toilet block in the family hub space adjacent to the Clock Café.
Phase three includes the restoration of the Clock Tower, Italian steps and further shelter works, which will be completed in November this year.
Finally, phase four includes the eagerly awaited reopening of the tunnel under the cliff lift, construction of the new innovative play area, restoration of the popular Italian Gardens and planting installations.
The whole project is due to be completed in April 2022 when the local community group is looking forward to hosting an opening event.
The council was successfully awarded a grant of £4,665,700 towards the cost of the project by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Community Fund as part of their Parks for People joint initiative, and has itself contributed £2,041,000. This was added to money generously raised by the local South Cliff community and ‘in kind’ contributions to complete the funding of the £7.158m project.
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