Make Devonport park your park

A partnership led by Plymouth City Council has now secured an outline approval from the Heritage Lottery Fund and BIG Lottery Fund to restore Devonport park as 'The People’s Park'.

This means that the project has now passed its first and most crucial hurdle having secured a pass in the first stage in the Heritage Lottery/Big Lottery Fund Parks for People Programme.

The partners to the bid, who include the Friends of Devonport Park and the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership along with many other local organisations and groups, aspire to restore Devonport as 'The People’s Park' This aspiration was backed by a major community consultation exercise last year culminating in the event on 23 September led by the Mayor of Plymouth, Cllr Fletcher and boxer Scott Dann and attended by over a 1,000 local residents.

The recognition is the first and crucial stage in the aspiration to secure a £3.3 million lottery grant to complete the restoration works in the park and will include a Development Grant of £176,000 to work up the detailed plans during 2007. A Stage 2 full application will follow early in 2008.

The success is the latest in recent progress made in restoring the park. Last year the tennis courts were refurbished thanks to a grant from Barclays Bank and Groundwork Devon and Cornwall. Recently the listed Doris Gun and War Memorial have been completely restored thanks to a grant of £82,500 from the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership. This has included the gun being re-painted to match its original buff colour when it was first placed in the park.

Unfortunately the Lottery did want our proposed restoration work on the Rose Garden to be delayed until the detailed bid was approved in 2008, but this small sacrifice is far outweighed by this major success in our long-term aspiration to realise our plans for the People’s Park. Only through significant lottery funding can Devonport Park’s restoration be sustained for the long-term.

The Development Grant will fund the development of detailed design work for the restoration plans including the following aspirations in the outline bid:

• detailed plans for a possible extension to the Bowling Pavilion to accommodate the existing pavilion, a café, toilets and changing facilities
• the restoration of the Lodge to possibly accommodate a Park Warden subject to approval by the owners of the building
• the refurbishment of the park play area and football pitches including appropriate facilities for young people
• detailed landscaping plans including proposals to replant missing trees and take out trees and bushes that obscure views and which contribute to feeling unsafe in the park
• detailed proposals for improved lighting, signage and seating in the park
• a detailed survey of one of the air raid shelters to ascertain whether one could be opened up for park events
• further support to the Friends Group will also be provided in the form of a dedicated Community Officer and support for an event in Summer 2007

There will be opportunity for local people to be involved in the development of these plans during 2007 to ensure that the restoration work proposed is right before the plans are finalised and to ensure we make the most of this one and only opportunity to restore Devonport Park. The key message is that the park should be restored in a manner that respects its proud history, but makes the park useable and attractive for local people today. That will be a fine balancing act, which is why the work is going to take time in order to ensure we have it right.

A Stage 2 bid will be submitted to the Lottery Funds early in 2008 and subject to satisfactorily responding to the conditions set by the Stage 1 Pass, we might be in a position to start work late in 2008.

Anyone who wishes to discuss this matter in advance of consultation can contact the Senior Project Manager on 01752 305598 or via email dpt@plymouth.gov.uk.

The Friends of Devonport Park can be reached through their website.

The Friends of Devonport Park working in partnership with Plymouth City Council and the Devonport Regeneration Company held an Open Day in Devonport Park on Saturday 4 March 2006. The event was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Plymouth City Council and the Devonport Regeneration Company with the purpose of consulting on outline plans to restore the 150-year-old park respecting its history while providing for the community needs of today.

Consultant’s Nicholas Pearson Associates also advised us on the event and provided the draft conservation proposals for the park. A full programme of guided walks, sports activities and a dance performance by the Devonport Dance Den took place alongside an exhibit of the park’s history as well as local people’s memories of its heyday before the Second World War. Initial plans for the restoration of the park were also unveiled. Tree Planting by Justin Leigh from BBC South-West attended by Councillors Wildy and Stevens to commemorate the formation of the Friends of Devonport Park.

To read the press release detailing the events of open day in Devonport Park back in March, please see the documents table below.

Consultation results

At the time of this analysis 130 questionnaires have been received from a full range of age groups. The results of the consultation reveal that:

• security and safety are the biggest issues to be tackled in the restoration of Devonport Park according to over 90% of respondents
• 74% of people indicated that they would use the park more regularly if security and safety were tackled successfully
• an events area as a modern day bandstand was supported by 80% of respondents
• more park open days were sought building on the success of this event and encouraging more people to use the park as a focus of community life with music, sports activities, carnivals and guided walks being the most popular
• the provision of toilets and a café emerged as the most supported facilities for inclusion in the restoration scheme by over half of the respondents
• providing changing rooms for the sports facilities, a better equipped play area catering for children and young people and information displays on the history of the park were popular with over a third of respondents
• two-thirds of people thought that Devonport Park needed new play facilities, changing rooms and a café to be sited at the centre of the park near the bowling green as opposed to the Lower Park Lodge
• over 72% of the people responding were from Devonport and Stoke with the remainder from Morice Town and Keyham, but other people from across the city accounted for over 18% of respondents using the park’s sporting facilities and they would also use the park for longer if the security and facilities were improved

For a downloadable version of the consultation results, please see the documents table below.

During 2007 we shall be restoring the War Memorial and the Doris Gun to their former glory and developing plans for the restoration of the Rose Garden and Lower Lodge. Residents who are interested in getting involved in the restoration of Devonport Park can either contact us on using the details on the right hand side of this page or contact the Friends of Devonport Park.

For further information on Devonport Park’s restoration proposals, please contact the Development Projects Team using the contact details opposite.

Documents

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	Development plan - introduction and background - introduction to the Development Plan for Devonport Park explaining the background and aims of the redevelopment of the park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 440KB
	Development plan - park zones plan - plan showing the proposed creation of different activity zones across Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 239KB
	Development plan - playground proposals - proposals for a new, centralised playground in Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 432KB
	Development plan - tree thinning options - proposals for tree thinning and tree planting in Devonport Park including a plan of the proposals. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 301KB
	Development plan - proposed lighting and furniture options - plan of illuminated routes and examples of furniture and lighting options for Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 251KB
	Development plan - proposed planting style options - descriptions and pictures of proposed planting style options for Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 445KB
	Development plan - pavilion redevelopment - description, floor plan and illustration of a proposed new pavilion and cafe for Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 320KB
	Development plan - rose garden restoration - plan of the proposed restoration of the rose garden in Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 331KB
	Restoring devonport park as the people's park - September 2006 newsletter summarising proposals for regenerating Devonport Park. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 599KB
	Make Devonport Park your park - press release giving information on the open day held in Devonport Park in March. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 414KB
	Devonport Park consultation results - a summary of findings from the initial consultation exercise carried out with park users on the open day. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 20.5KB

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