Our award-winning Hall Leys Park is to get a £730,000 facelift - thanks mainly to central government funding - and there's an upcoming cash boost too for Wirksworth's Meadows Renewal Project.
A grant of £450,737 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) means the Green Flag town centre park will get a new skatepark, new splashpads, refurbished pathways and a new link to the White Peak Loop trail. Match funding - which is required - of £279,263 will come from the District Council's capital resources.
The news is a big win for the Hall Leys Skatepark Project, who have been working with the District Council to identify funding to replace the current skatepark in Hall Leys, which is 20 years old and has come to the end of its life.
There's also a £150,000 boost for Wirksworth Town Council's ambition to restore and enrich the existing landscape both for residents and wildlife on the Meadows site with their Renewal Project.
A meeting of the District Council's Community & Environment Committee last week unanimously approved the government cash allocation to each project after hearing that the windfall was the result of the Council rescuing 2023/24 UKSPF funding that had been allocated to the proposed conversion of the former market hall in Matlock, including a two-screen cinema.
The market hall project is now on hold after two invitations to procure a main contractor and value engineering of the scheme did not bring acceptable or affordable tenders, illustrating the significant challenge of delivering the proposed scheme in the current inflation-impacted construction market.
As the UKSPF allocated money has to be spent by the end of March next year, the District Council put out an open appeal for capital projects - prioritising Matlock, where the original funding was intended to be used. The Council received nine expressions of interest by the deadline of 23 February.
District Council Leader Councillor Steve Flitter said:
"Our officers deserve great credit for rescuing this government funding to benefit both Matlock and Wirksworth. They were up against the clock, but delivered. The Progressive Alliance remains committed to revisiting the conversion of Matlock market hall at some time in the future, but the great news is that the two new projects give the construction market time to improve while still utilising the 2023/24 UK Shared Prosperity Fund grant.”
Last week's meeting heard that 82% of the original funding would still be spent in Matlock, including £268,000 improving the bus station site in Matlock's Bakewell Road in a partnership project with Derbyshire County Council. This work, including financial contributions from the District and County councils, is already underway and will create a comfortable waiting area for bus and taxi passengers, together with real time information boards, new street furniture, landscaping, tree planting, lighting and signage.
The two new benefiting projects - Hall Leys Park and Wirksworth Meadows - were earlier this week approved unanimously by the UKSPF board, and each project must be contracted by 1 June this year with full completion by March 2025.
In Hall Leys Park the existing wooden skatepark, which has required much maintenance in recent years, will be replaced by a flood resilient stainless-steel structure with composite panels.
A small paddling pool in the children's play area - installed 15 years ago - will be replaced by an easier to maintain and more accessible splashpad.
Non-slip resin-bonded surfacing will be installed to main park paths to improve the existing tarmac surface of varying ages which, although maintained in good condition, does not look attractive.
The ‘Broad Walk’ through Hall Leys Park will be resurfaced as a multi-user shared route to form part of the White Peak Loop, marked out by resin bonded surface treatment with signage at each end and at crossing points, making it clear that pedestrians have priority. This will help to close a gap in the White Peak Loop between High Peak Junction and Matlock as well as providing a local active travel link connecting employment, shops, communities, and the railway station.
Further low-level intervention works will be undertaken by the County Council to link this new initiative to the existing trail across Matlock Bridge.
The Wirksworth Meadows project started at the end of 2019 when the Town Council bought the land. Three public consultations recommended tree planting in the area, additional seating, improved pathways, wildflower meadows and community spaces, with a focus on wildlife. The project went out to tender last month.
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