New plans for café and heritage centre at Weymouth's Radipole Park
It's a £1.2 million project, led by the Town Council
New plans have been submitted for a café and heritage centre to be built at Radipole Park and Gardens in Weymouth.
The Town Council's scaled back the latest drawings, and included changes to the car park for extra disabled capacity, and a drop-off point for community minibuses.
But the café element will be smaller under these plans, as a kiosk with an outside covered seating area.
The project's expected to cost £1.2 million, covered mostly by a Heritage Lottery grant for the Town Council and Friends of Radipole Park group.
It will also create two full-time and four part-time jobs within the café.
Weymouth Town Council intend to franchise the café, with the rental income ‘ring fenced’ being used to maintain the building, park and gardens.
Security lights and CCTV will be fitted to the building with the car park layout redesigned to discourage anti-social behaviour.
This is part of a larger improvement plans for the park and gardens, which will include new play equipment, water feature, improved paths and planting and a sensory garden.
In the application, it says:
“As well as serving refreshments and offering toilet facilities, it is intended that the café functions as a community heritage centre, with information on the history of the park, a hub for the Friends and volunteers and a centre for education, enabling learning throughout the park and gardens. Research shows that if people better understand a place, they place more value in it and therefore are more likely to care for it, so protecting the facility in the future.”
“The plan for the park aims to restore Radipole Park and Gardens so that it forms the green ‘heart’ of Weymouth where people go to enjoy high quality facilities, play, sports, outdoor events, activities and to relax and meet other people in a safe, well managed and welcoming setting. The new café and heritage centre is the heart of that plan. It will provide a venue for people to meet with activities that they can become involved with, thereby improving the sense of community spirit and enhancing the quality of life.”
Public comments on the proposal remain open until January 12th.