First phase of transformation of £500k Tower Gardens in Skegness begins

The first phase vision for Tower Gardens, developed with community input, includes a scheme of hard landscaping and planting, as well as accessibility improvements.

Repairs and improvements to some of the existing pathways will also be undertaken over the winter, along with a new sensory garden being created around the bandstand, and a working pump installed ensuring that the pond that runs through the gardens is as attractive as people remember.

The community consultation and design process has identified these as urgent works, but also forming an ambitious masterplan of future

improvements to the park, to be carried out when further funding is realised.

Tower Gardens is a valuable amenity for the town, appealing to holiday-makers in the season and presenting a key community space for residents and visitors all year round.

Grade II Listed, the park is an important landmark dating back to the Earl of Scarborough’s influence on Skegness as an emerging popular resort in the 1920s and 1930s.

It is hoped that Tower Gardens may be enjoyed by a greater range and diversity of people within the local community.

The Tower Gardens Project is being delivered as part of the Town Centre Transformation Town Deal programme in Skegness, which is funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities; the Connected Coast Town Deal Board; and Local Government.

The town centre focussed programme is being delivered by Heritage Lincolnshire, the county’s foremost heritage-led regeneration charity.

The exciting Town Centre Transformation project is also the first grant scheme to enhance the heritage of Skegness and has made a

substantial pot of grant funding available to local businesses and property owners in Skegness town centre, specifically Lumley Road, the High Street and Tower Gardens.

Tracy Stringfellow, Chief Executive Officer at Heritage Lincolnshire, said “We are hugely excited to begin delivering on the changes to Tower Gardens which were planned with local people earlier this year.

"The work will have a massive impact on how this important asset is enjoyed and will help to safeguard the park’s place in the centre of the community for years to come.”

Chris Baron, Chair of the Connected Coast Board, said: “It is fantastic to see the works now getting underway at Tower Gardens, with these improvements set to enhance this much-loved and historic space.

“The plans, which have been shaped with feedback from the community, will ensure an even better experience for everyone who visits and uses Tower Gardens.”

Steve Larner Town Clerk at Skegness Town Council said “Skegness Town Council are delighted to be getting phase one of the Tower Gardens Masterplan underway. Work to pathways around the pond will make these accessible for everyone to enjoy the reinstated cascade and fully restored pond.

“The sensory gardens being established around the recently repainted bandstand, will introduce musical sounds and planting that will stimulate and engage everyone’s senses.

“The bandstand’s grass paths through the sensory gardens will have integral matting and dropped kerbs, giving wheelchair users full access to this calming and stimulating space.”