Rivington Terraced Gardens Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Rivington Terraced Gardens Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People Grant- Stage 1 Application

What is the heritage that the project will focus on and why is it important? Rivington Terraced Gardens is a circa 35ha historic garden site on a hillside adjacent to Lever Park and the Rivington Reservoirs near Horwich in Greater Manchester. The gardens feature in the English Heritage list of Historic Parks and Gardens and contain various stone built features including shelters, paths, bridges, stairways and balustrades, a number of which are Grade II listed structures. The gardens were created by William Hesketh Lever, the late Lord Leverhulme, on Rivington Moor in the early 1900s. The gardens were designed and built in stages by Thomas Mawson, a noted Edwardian landscape designer as a private garden for Lever from 1905 until Lever’s death in 1925. The garden is constructed on a number of artificial terraces and was bult in phases to a number of themes, including an Italian Garden, a Japanese Garden and a mountain garden built around an artificial ravine. Since Lever's death the garden has passed into private ownership and has suffered a gradual decline as the resources to maintain the extensive gardens was no longer available.

Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People Grant • Groundwork is currently working with The Rivington Heritage Trust (RHT) in the early stages of development of an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Parks for People Grant, to secure investment in the structures and landscape of Rivington Terraced Gardens (RTG), to conserve and preserve this important historical site for the future. • No detailed plans for works to be undertaken have been developed as yet – these will be developed in full consultation with the local community and users of the Terraced Gardens • RHT have identified 2 broad parameters within which we feel any full application to HLF should lie: 1. Not seeking to reinstate the Gardens to their former glory. This is not sustainable given the level of resources available to RHT, either in terms of the capital cost of reinstatement, or the ongoing cost of maintaining the Gardens. 2. Not constructing any new buildings, visitor centres or other new structures on the site.

Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People Grant: Project Detail • We are proposing a sympathetic programme of works within the Gardens, focusing on 5 key areas of activity: • Heritage – conserve the heritage features of the site, and protect them for future generations. This primarily focuses on the structures on site and the Thomas Mawson Garden layout, but can also apply to other areas of the Gardens. • Education – interpret the history and heritage of the site so that visitors to RTG can gain a better appreciation. • Access – improving the access infrastructure of RTG to enable a wider group of users to access and enjoy the site. • Community engagement – reaching out and involving as wide a range of possible of community interests in making decisions concerning the future of RTG • Landscape – developing a management plan for the landscape of RTG that will deliver a welcoming and attractive environment, while remaining true to its original layout, and the natural regeneration which has occurred since its construction.

Heritage Lottery Fund Parks for People Grant: Project Detail Project Benefits • The capital programme to restore the built structures in Rivington Terraced Gardens will prevent further decay of these structures and protect them for future generations. • The project will also provide the opportunity to prepare a long term management and maintenance plan that will ensure the Gardens receive appropriate maintenance in the future and that the resources required for ongoing maintenance can be planned for. • The project will allow the opportunity to introduce a new audience to heritage or Rivington including children, the unemployed and disadvantaged communities. • A better understanding of the heritage and importance of Rivington Terraced Garden's, both the built and natural heritage. Visitors will benefit from improved interpretation, via new interpretation boards, updated leaflets, guided tours and open days and educational outreach programmes. The project will help improve the natural heritage and environment of the Terraced Gardens, through works to improve local habitats. • The project will also aim to improve partnership working between United Utilities and local interest and specialist groups, by involving them in the consultation, planning and delivery of the project.

Consultation Process Groundwork are currently consulting with local user groups and the wider public to hear views about the site and also to gauge local support for the establishment of a Community Forum. Format • We are currently carrying out detailed user group surveys, consisting of site questionnaires , events, meetings and focus groups, to hear views about the site in its current state and to ascertain how users would like to see the site improved in the future. • The second element of the consultation has entailed the establishment of a Community Forum group. Community Forum • 3 Community Drop inns were held between February & March, within the Anderton Centre, Rivington Parish Church Hall and Horwich Library. • These were held to gauge levels of support to begin to establish a Forum. • Folllowing the drop inns, there has now been sufficient local support to begin to establish a Community Forum.

Consultation Process Rationale for establishing a Community Forum • Establishing the community forum will allow local residents, site users and groups to be involved in decisions about the site and its management. • There has been no formal structure to allow user groups and the wider community to feed into the RHT Board. • The forum would advise the RHT Board on matters concerning community and user- group involvement with the Terraced Gardens, playing an active role in decision making regarding the management and any future work on the gardens . • The forum will elect a representative from its membership to:- Serve as an independent Trustee and Director of RHT

HLF Stage 1 Processes so far • 3 Community Drop inns - February – March • First stage of consultation • Gauge levels of support to begin to establish a Community Forum • Begin constitution of Community Forum with assistance from RHT • Draft of user group survey- approval by RHT May- June 2012 • Stakeholder consultation – ongoing • User group surveys – on site – website- neighbourhoods • Establishment of Community Forum meetings – 3 rd meeting scheduled for mid June 2012 • Community Forum – consultation focus group • Draft consultation for HLF Stage 1 June • Collate user surveys , Forum consultation , stakeholder consultation • Draft consultation report – Forum to sign off draft Stage 1 application • Draft consultation report to RHT Board • Consultation outcomes- Begin interpreting into site design August • End of August 2012- submission of stage 1 application