What is this all about, and what does it mean for local people?
As most local people will have heard, the quarry has been acquired from its former owners by a local company which plans to build a Roman Fort there. There is a lot more to our plans than that, and this is where we need your help. The local company is Called “Park in The Past Community Interest Company”. Notice the word ‘Community’ in the name. This is because this is special type of company, which is designed to enable businesses that want to bring community benefits to qualify for some of the opportunities that are normally only available to registered charities. One of these is the ability to apply for grants from organisations like the National Lottery. We’ve done this, and been successful in Stage 1 of the “Create your Space” competition. Make no mistake, this is a competition, and only with the help of the local community will the Park in The Past qualify for a £2 million investment which will help to transform the former quarry into a uniquely themed community park. One thing we should mention is that all this money will be invested in the Park. As a Community Interest Company, there is a legally binding asset lock in place which means that whatever money is invested in the Park stays in the Park.
So what help do we need? We have come up with an overall concept, but we need your input on the detail. Have you visited the site? What do you do there already? What would you like to be able to do? What concerns do you have? Only by finding out what you want can we hope to be able to deliver the maximum benefits as part of the final scheme.
Over the coming weeks and months, we will be holding a number of events which will enable us to develop a detailed development plan. We see this as an ongoing process, and so we will continue to share our proposals and to seek your input as we move forwards.
To find out about these and other events, check the [events page]. Please come along and have your say!