Councillors have agreed to submit a bid for £1 million of lottery funding for an ‘extremely popular’ public garden – and allocate £30,000 in match funding. 

It is hoped funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund could help ‘restore the physical and cultural heritage’ of Radipole Park and Gardens in Weymouth, which is considered to be in need of ‘enhancement and repair.’

As a council report which recommends the bid and the one-off funding notes, following flooding in 2012 and the storms in 2014, the park and gardens were submerged in water for a number of weeks.

This resulted in deterioration of paths, and damage to the path network due to fallen trees and root heave, meaning some pathways have closed.
The popular space is owned and maintained by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, with voluntary support from the Friends of Radipole Park and Gardens. 

The Friends have drawn up an “ambitious” wish list of improvements to the space, which includes upgrading the children’s play area, upgrading path networks and sports facilities, introducing a new drainage scheme to reduce flooding and introducing a café and toilet facilities. 

The stage one bid for the Heritage Lottery ‘Parks for People’ fund was agreed to at a meeting of the council’s management committee.

Presenting the council report and recommendation for the bid and the £30,000 funding, Cllr Kate Wheller emphasised the importance of the park and gardens to the community.

She said: “Times and tastes in gardens have changed but this is still an extremely well-used and popular garden.”

Cllr Wheller also noted necessity of maintaining a green space in the area, saying that “many of the people around there do not have backyards let alone gardens.”

Councillor Richard Kosior, however, raised concerns about the issue of various sorts of people taking up residence in the park. 

Greenspace and bereavement manager Tara Williams, author of the council report, said: “We have had to introduce the policy where we move them on fairly quickly. We work with Real World Security to have them removed from the space.”

She also said that an “enormous” amount of time has been put towards putting the lottery bid together.

Cllr Wheller thought the Friends plans were “really quite ambitious”, adding that having a café and toilets included in the park would create the “same atmosphere as you have at Sandsfoot.”

Cllr Jeff Cant described the lottery bid for the park as a “fantastic project” and at the end of discussion the recommendations were approved by all councillors present on the committee.

Treasurer of the Friends of Radipole Park and Gardens Mike Goulden said: “The Friends of RPAG are delighted with the council’s decision and commitment to support the submission of a bid to the Heritage Lottery.”