Cafe, toilets and events building for Ellington Park given the green light by Thanet council

How the new building will look

A café and events building and new toilets for Ellington Park in Ramsgate have been granted planning permission by Thanet council.

Thanet District Council and Friends of Ellington Park, with support from Heritage Lottery Fund, are working to improve Ellington Park by restoring its original layout and enhancing its facilities.

Historically, Ellington Park contained public toilets and a range of outbuildings for community use, such as summerhouses and shelters. The loss of these buildings has had a significant impact on the park. Due to the lack of toilets, visits are short and there are few places locally that offer food and refreshments for park users.

The proposed building will include toilets and a cafe, which will also be used as an education space in the day time and community events space in the evenings. The building will be on the terrace overlooking the park, in the same location as the original rustic bandstand.

The 100sq metre café building will have 36 seats inside and 24 seats on the external terrace and 3 unisex toilets, with accessible WC and baby change. The café can be converted to a community hub and education space for art and wildlife workshops with schools and families, as well as talks and events for the wider community.

The café design has been carefully considered by Claque Architects and the project team to maximise the use of space, meet the needs of the community and create a modern building with key heritage features:

  • Flat roof single story modern building, with knapped flint finish to match the Victorian boundary walls of the park
  • Glazed frontage with central opening and concertina doors open to seating area.
  • Windows and doors on 3 sides of the building taking in the best views of the park, with security shutters for night time protection
  • Accessible toilets and baby change
  • Kitchen with servery hatch, for eating in and take away, including seasonal summer and winter use
  • Cafe seating and storage partition, converting the café into a community events, education and workshop space

There will be new benches, the promenade will be widened and an outdoor seating area created. There will also be a new public square for market stalls and a petanque area, for the use of more than 90,000 visitors per year.

The two phase process began in January 2017 when the Ellington Park project secured design and development funding to ensure all aspects of the parks heritage, features and its current use are considered in the design.

During 2018 more than 6,500 people were consulted about the developments to the park, 85% wanted a café and toilet facilities.

Cllr Rosanna Taylor-Smith, Cabinet member for Operational Services at Thanet District Council said:“This is excellent news for Ellington Park – the approved plans demonstrate a real vision for the park that reflects its importance to the local community. The proposals are a great response to the community consultation and show that the local residents and park users have been listened to.

“We will continue to support the hard work of the Friends of Ellington Park who are driving force behind the bid to restore and improve this historic open space.”

Via thanetonline

Beverley Perkins, Chair of the Friends of Ellington Park said:”The Friends are so pleased that the project is progressing so well and we are looking forward to having a community space in the park.  The café will give a plethora of opportunities for volunteers to learn new skills, and be involved in the workshops and events. We anticipate that it will be prove to be an integral part of our local community.”

Heritage Lottery Funding will also be used to renovate the bandstand; restore the best features of the original 1893 Joseph Cheal landscape scheme and improve play facilities.

The successful planning application and community support for the building means the project can move forward to the next step of applying for £1.8million funding from HLF.

The decision should be known by January 2019, with the project taking another 2 years to procure, build and complete the café alongside the other works in the park.

Once built and open, the café will be run and managed as an environmentally friendly, healthy café run as a not–for–profit community enterprise by the Friends of Ellington Park.

The history

Via thanetonline

Ellington Park is 126 years old. The late Victorian and Edwardian landscaped area is across 13 acres of land. It was laid out in 1893 on what was once part of the estate surrounding Ellington House.

The park was designed by the Victorian landscape company Joseph Cheal and Son, known for their work at Hever Castle and Kirkstall Abbey.

Today, many of the heritage features of the park remain, including over 390 trees, which dapple the rolling slopes of the park enjoyed by some 9,000 visitors per year.

The Friends of Ellington Park are a committee made up of a group of local residents and park users committed to improving the facilities and environment of the park.

6 Comments

  1. This is a good thing,i just hope it doesn’t attract the usual idiot teenagers who like to destroy things

    • It will though. Give them new stuff and they smash it up then moan they haven’t got new stuff.

      Still trying to work out why this cafe is going to cost 1.8 million after putting up the council tax and charging me if someone nicks my bin?

      • You haven’t taken into account the othe proposed works for the remainder of the park, including repairs to the bandstand and other original features of the park in phase 1. The money is being sought from the heritage lottery fund not the council.

    • Well let’s never bother to try to improve anywhere then. Let’s not pick up litter or sweep up leaves from the pavement or clear snow away.

      Yes, why don’t we all just give in and let entropy take its course?
      Alternatively you could say, “I’m really glad to hear that Ellington Park’s going to get a new cafe and some loos. It’s a beautiful park and there are lots of people who’ll enjoy it even more with these additions.”

      • Im over the moon something is being done seeing as how i grew up 30 seconds away from the park and have spent a lot of my time over there,im being honest though,the youth of today have zero respect !

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