In article , Bob Hobden
writes
BlankKnowing that professional gardeners etc, read this Ng does anyone know
of sources of cash grants for the making and equipping of Parks and open
spaces?

The reason I ask is that our allotment site is to become a park but the
Council say they have little money to provide what the locals want, indeed
the last thing I heard was that no playground equipment would be provided
for the kids and even trees could not be funded. A grass field only then.
Might as well leave it as the nature reserve it has become.

Bob you will see elsewhere, (in the Big Garden thread), that I am
involved in a 4.2 Acre sight, (thank you for that bit of info folks)
which 'was' a Football Ground, is now in a terrible state, and is now
going to be turned over to the locals as a recreational facility.

I wear two hats. One as a councillor, the local parish council have
bought the site for the benefit of the local residents, and one as a
member of the 'partnership' which is a community action group. (And let
me crack the joke first, "Yes you need two hats to fit your big head"
Right that has got that one out of the way).

One hat can do certain things, one hat cannot. 'And so between to two
you see they licked the platter clean' No? :-((

Bob, another member of both, is tasked with the job of gathering
information on funding funds. So far she has come up with in excess of
£300,000 of money available for such a project, (and I put her onto
another one of £100,000 max from a Government fund of £30,000,000 as yet
untouched because nobody knows about it).

I have just typed up the following for the local newsletter:


At their July meeting, the Parish Council agreed to apply for funding to
start Phase 1 of the development of Fairway Park. This will be to clear,
drain, level, seed and fence the site enabling it to be turned into a
grassed area suitable for a football pitch and provide a new children's
playground and general open space park for residents use. (Apologies to
all dog owners - this area will be strictly out of bounds)

ADVICE.

Get your local Parish Council involved on this.

Get your local MP involved on this.

Get your local County Councillors involved on this.

Form an action group in the name of what the Park is going to be.

Get a timetable out for what you are going to do. Not 'hope' to do, but
'going to DO'. Be very positive about this and don't listen when someone
says 'But you can't do that' (I had a piece of land when I was in
Leicester and the locals said 'You can't build on that, there is a
covenant on it' I had the covenant removed and there are now 2 blocks of
Council Flats on it. Never take never for an answer)

Look towards getting more facilities in the park. Such as a Playground,
Cafe? (Don't think about running the cafe, but putting it out on a
franchise or something), a Skateboard Park and if there are too many
houses around, look at the idea of an Indoor Skateboard Park, the
advantages of this is that it can be run as a club with more control.
The down side of this is that it must be managed and you must have
Liability Insurance which could cost £2 - 3,000 per year according to
one quote I have had. Would there be support and scope for Dri Ski
Slope? Don't forget a small item such as grass cutting :-(( we have been
quoted £3,000 a year for grass maintenance before we put a football
pitch on there, but as we hope to have a 6 lane Bowling Green on there
to Tournament standard, it follows that we will have our own groundsman.

Those are a few ideas or you, but the more you try to get on there, the
more funds there are available.

And our site now? Still pulling old trees out, still getting rid of the
rubbish, llllooooonnnnnnggggway to go, so you MUST have a vision as to
what WILL happen in the end.

Have a plan

Hope that helps

And don't let anyone tell you 'It can't be done' :-))

Be a determined ******* like me :-))

Mike


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"Mike" wrote in message

Bob, another member of both, is tasked with the job of gathering
information on funding funds. So far she has come up with in excess of
£300,000 of money available for such a project, (and I put her onto
another one of £100,000 max from a Government fund of £30,000,000 as yet
untouched because nobody knows about it).

So do tell!

ADVICE.

Get your local Parish Council involved on this.

There isn't one

Get your local MP involved on this.

Chocolate teapot from past experience but he might just do something if I'm
devious enough and give him no option.

Get your local County Councillors involved on this.

I will wait to see what our local Borough Council has done in this regard
first.

Form an action group in the name of what the Park is going to be.

A "Focus Group" is in the process of being arranged, and the Council have
said they want a "Friends Group" to be arranged too which might just be a
way of getting some grants available. :-)

As for facilities, at the moments there is no money for anything, not even
trees, but I am hopeful we can get a skateboard facility and kids playground
equipment at least. A local firm, SMP, is a leading manufacturer of such
equipment. :-)

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

"Mike" wrote in message

Bob, another member of both, is tasked with the job of gathering
information on funding funds. So far she has come up with in excess of
£300,000 of money available for such a project, (and I put her onto
another one of £100,000 max from a Government fund of £30,000,000 as yet
untouched because nobody knows about it).

So do tell!

ADVICE.

Get your local Parish Council involved on this.

There isn't one

Get your local MP involved on this.

Chocolate teapot from past experience but he might just do something if I'm
devious enough and give him no option.

Get your local County Councillors involved on this.

I will wait to see what our local Borough Council has done in this regard
first.

Form an action group in the name of what the Park is going to be.

A "Focus Group" is in the process of being arranged, and the Council have
said they want a "Friends Group" to be arranged too which might just be a
way of getting some grants available. :-)

As for facilities, at the moments there is no money for anything, not even
trees, but I am hopeful we can get a skateboard facility and kids playground
equipment at least. A local firm, SMP, is a leading manufacturer of such
equipment. :-)

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.