Margate's Dreamland scoops windfall
The Dreamland Trust has received the first pot of cash in its multimillion pound bid to get the former Margate theme park back up and running.
The £384,500 is for a development fund to allow the group to hire people to make up detailed plans for the site's future as an old-fashioned fun park.
A decision on whether the Heritage Lottery Fund will give £2.65 million will not be announced until further applications have been made in 2010.
Receiving the first-round of cash is boost for plans.
Centred on the Grade II listed Scenic Railway, the heritage park will mean 100 more jobs and attract around 700,000 visits annually, according to the trust.
Those involved in the project include Thanet council, the Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company which own the land and Margate Renewal Partnership.Entry to the park and landscaped gardens will be free with a charge for people who want to go on the historic rides.
Dreamland Trust Honorary Secretary Susan Marsh said: "We will now work up detailed plans to ensure that we deliver this unique new visitor attraction in the heart of Margate, providing a major boost for the tourism economy and giving the people of Margate what they have so long wished for - a revitalised Dreamland.
"We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us the opportunity to further develop our vision for Dreamland Margate. Along with our partners at the Margate Renewal Partnership, Thanet District Council and the Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company, we are committed to bringing this project to reality as quickly as possible."
During Phase One work will be carried out on the Grade II*- listed Dreamland cinema building, restoring its 1930s Modernist façade, safeguarding the auditorium and Compton Noterman organ, and installing an exhibition space to explain and publicise the project.
It is planned that the cinema building will house a national centre of street style, celebrating Margate's pedigree as Britain's capital of popular culture, and sharing the legacy in music, fashion, photography and graphic design.
Source: This is Kent
