Major Autumn lottery boost confirmed for Lordship Rec
Today the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) have announced that Lordship Recreation Ground in Haringey has been awarded confirmed funding of £3.8million under their Parks for People scheme. The 23-hectare park, known by locals as The Rec, was opened in 1932 and is one of the few open spaces serving a densely populated inner urban area that includes the Broadwater Farm Estate.
The award has been made as part of a £10.6million funding package to six of the UK¹s much-loved parks by the HLF and BIG.
Further support for the Lordship Rec comes from Haringey Council who will be contributing over £3m in capital and running costs, with a further £400,000 from the Mayor of London¹s Help a London Park Scheme and £300,000 from the Environment Agency.
Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the London region, said on behalf of HLF and BIG: ” Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of the year for London parks. Stunning oranges and reds everywhere and crunchy leaves underfoot make it the perfect time to get out and enjoy our wonderful open spaces. This joint investment from HLF and BIG will ensure our much-loved parks such as Lordship Rec continue to be looked after and have a major role to play at the very heart of their local communities.”
The grant will enable the restoration of the park¹s unique features including a model traffic area, created in the late 1930¹s for children on bicycles and in pedal cars to learn highway safety on a miniature road layout complete with traffic signs and zebra crossings. The money will also be used for:
- restoration of the Moselle River, which includes developing a more natural river course and a long-term water cleansing programme
- restoration of historic features including the Shell Theatre
- a new environment centre, information and community shop, and bike track
- extensive landscaping work throughout the park.
The new Environment Centre will be an exemplar low energy building developed to ‘Passivehaus’ standards. The new building will be constructed with natural, robust materials and will house a new café, toilets and community facilities.
The funds will also be used to develop a programme of activities encouraging more people to use the park, provide training and skills for local people and to recruit and train more volunteers to help with the day-to-day running of the park.
Cllr Claire Kober, the Leader of Haringey Council, said: “This is fantastic news and a tribute to the excellent partnership between the council and the local community that has been developed over many years. This is a significant investment in the borough, so it¹s great to have something to celebrate in these challenging times. I’d like to thank everyone connected with this scheme for making it happen, as well as the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund for their very generous grant.”
The popular park already receives an estimated 630,000 visitors per year and there is an active local users’ forum and a Friends group.
Dave Morris, Chair of the Friends of Lordship Rec, added: “This grant will help to transform Lordship Rec. It comes after many years of hard work by the local community, the Friends Group and Haringey Council and will mean that the park will have some fantastic facilities.”
David Lammy MP for Tottenham, said: “This is tremendous news for the people of Tottenham. Lordship Rec one of North London’s best green spaces and it was my local park when I was growing up, so I’m so happy the parks future is being secured with this grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.”