The City Council’s Parks & Countryside Service are still pursuing a Heritage Lottery Bid for the Ouseburn Parks Project. The process has taken longer than expected due to the size of the area covered by the project and the amount of money required from the Council in order to apply for a grant. The City will have to guarantee 25% of the funds required and this amount is £1.6 million. Officers are in the process of identifying areas of income that can be used to offset this cost.
Officers plan to present a report outlining the proposal, together with the funding required, to the Council’s Executive group in September for ratification. Then the application to the Heritage Lottery Fund will be submitted with a decision expected in March 2006. A newsletter will be posted out to all ‘friends’ as soon as a decision has been made.