Grant means sustainable future for Winthrop Gardens

Wickersley Parish Council’s application to the government’s Community Ownership Fund has been approved and the money will provide 80 per cent of the costs of the proposed Winthrop development.

The council has approved the Winthrop business case and says a new café is now a when, not an if.

Wickersley Parish Council and Winthrop Committee chair Cllr John Barber said: “I am so pleased and proud that the parish council has been successful in our Community Ownership Fund application.

“The grant enables us to do so much – to create a sustainable future for Winthrop, to provide a new café building, to improve the overall size and layout of the gardens, to improve the visitor experience and to have the confidence to continue to develop and improve the services we provide at Winthrop.

“We were extremely grateful for the very helpful letters of support from all our local politicians - our MPs Alexander Stafford and John Healey, and our borough councillors Sue Ellis, Zach and Tom Collingham.“This is fantastic news for Wickersley and means we can now talk about a new café for Winthrop being a when, not an if.”

He added that a meeting had taken place with the grant manager and work had begun on developing specifics for tenders, which they hoped to advertise in early March.