Parks for People fund

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is working very hard to achieve lottery funding from the Parks for People fund, which if successful could grant between £250,000 & £3.5 million towards the improvement of Babbs Mill Park, Meriden Park & Colebank Park.

The Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund are working in partnership to provide the funds for the Parks for People programme.

The priorities for the Parks for People programme are to show that:

• the community values the park as part of their heritage
• the park meets local social, economic and environmental needs
• the park actively involves local people.

Any works proposed by the Council for the Parks must meet the following outcomes:

• Increasing the range of audiences
• Conserving and improving the heritage value
• Increasing the range of volunteers involved
• Improving skills and knowledge through training
• Improving management and maintenance

There is a two stage application process, which is competitive at stage 1. Solihull MBC will be submitting an application for stage 1 in September 2008, which means we will be competing against other similar Councils for the funding. Hopefully, we will then progress to stage 2 and be able to further develop our proposals outlined below:

• to increase the opportunities for the community to take part in healthy, safe, recreational activities through the provision of children's play and youth facilities, sports facilities including pitches, trim trails, skate parks etc.
• to increase the quantity, quality and accessibility of green space and thus deliver the targets as identified in the Council's Green Space Strategy.
• to promote a greater understanding of sustainable development for all age groups through the provision of a high quality, stimulating, community building demonstrating how lifestyle choices that we make impact on the environment we live in and educate and encourage users to adopt a sustainable lifestyle themselves.
• to provide the community with facilities where environmental training/learning opportunities can be delivered. The proposed 'green-hub' will be located at the site of the old youth-a-float building in Babb's Mill Park (LNR) where it will take the form of a purpose built Eco building illustrating best practice in sustainable design and function once constructed. The building will be accessible, of contemporary design and will be able to be viewed from a variety of vantage points.

The function and design of the building has yet to be fully determined but could include office space, community café, educational facilities and could possibly become an environmental centre for the area. It is envisaged that the building could be used by Council Officers, Community Groups and partner organisations.