The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A move is being made to try and stop the controversial proposed outdoor performance area for Spalding’s Ayscoughfee Gardens being built.
The £57,000 project – designed by Heritage Lincolnshire – was granted planning permission in January.
While some people have welcomed the contemporary look, it has not gone down well with others. Spalding Town Forum chairman Coun George Aley likened it to a bus stop and fellow forum member Coun Graham Dark says it is a “monstrosity”.
Coun Dark, who is also chairman of The Friends of Ayscoughfee which stages a series of outdoor band concerts in the gardens every year, says what is proposed is not what is wanted or needed by user groups.
He said: “I’d like to see it withdrawn or at the very least delayed until proper consultation with the town forum and user groups has taken place.
“I suggested to the town forum originally that we should look at the situation and it was accepted that we should bid [for money from the S106 Springfields pot]. From that point on we weren’t much consulted, if at all.
“What irritates me is it’s taken away from user groups and people making the bid, and we’ve basically been told what we can have.”
Coun Dark says a £20,000 revamp of the current pavilion would suffice and the rest of the money could be used for other gardens improvements.
The issue will be discussed at next week’s town forum meeting. At least two members – Coun Christine Lawton and Coun Harry Drury – have championed the design.
Meanwhile, the council has declined to disclose to The Voice how much Heritage Lincolnshire was paid for the design work, saying the figure was “commercially sensitive”. However, at a full council meeting on February 24, town forum member Coun Angela Newton asked for the amount to be revealed.
Early on Wednesday (March 9) she had not received an answer.
