Garden Trust Prepares Bid For Big Lottery Windfall

Garden executives met a representative of the National Lottery about its Living Landmark Fund last week to determine how best to present their bid for funding in order to increase its chances of success.

The Living Landmark Fund, which will support projects that help communities to improve their quality of life and environment has set a deadline of January 6, 2006, for bids to be submitted and it is anticipated that applications will far outstrip the level of funding available.

Rachel Johnston, marketing and PR manager of the Alnwick Garden said: "We are currently putting our bid together to meet the criteria set by the specific Living Landmark Fund. We had a good meeting with a representative from the The Big Lottery Fund, which has many different funding streams and we will only be applying to the one suitable to our charity.

"The bidding process is very competitive, with many stages to complete, and decisions will be made from the Big Lottery Fund head office in London and announced in the summer of 2007.

The Living Landmarks Fund will issue a small number of grants of between £10m and £25m and it is expected that the Garden’s bid will aim for support from this trench of funding.

The Fund will also issue a single grant of between £25m and £50m, run in conjunction with the People’s Millions programme. Projects will be voted on by the public through an ITV programme to select the winner.

Alnwick Garden Trust, a registered charity, has achieved much to date through the Garden.

It provided 24,664 learning opportunities between April, 2004, and June, 2005. It has created work for 200 people both directly and indirectly through the Garden and, since October 2001, has attracted 1,571,000 visitors.

On completion of Phases 2 and 3 by 2008, the Garden will generate up to £150m in economic benefits for the North East over a ten-year period. It will employ 445 people in full-time equivalent jobs and the annual spend of visitors is estimated to reach £9m.

The Alnwick Garden, however, is only halfway through its development. There are six more gardens still to come, along with the Treehouse play area, trumpeted as being the largest playground in Europe, the lighting scheme, the bridge across Denwick Lane and the facilities in the car park such as a service area for coach drivers and toilets.

"This is only just the beginning. There are many more things planned and it is essential to continue to grow and develop to add to the successes achieved so far," said Mrs Johnston.