North Northamptonshire Council awarded £210,000 grant to help identify future of the Chester House Estate
26th Oct 2024
North Northamptonshire Council have been awarded a grant of over £200,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to commission a piece of work which will help shape the future governance and long-term options for the Chester House Estate.
The grant, which was made possible thanks to National Lottery players, follows on from internal scoping work completed in 2023 which looked at how best to run the council’s cultural, tourism and heritage assets. The work identified that the Chester House Estate is now in a financial position to move forwards into a new governance model, and all options will be explored. Other cultural, tourism and heritage assets under North Northamptonshire Council’s control are not currently in a place to be considered.
The Council owns several other excellent assets, such as Stanwick Lakes, which are leased to charitable trusts to operate, with the council providing funding and officer support as appropriate under relevant contractual or legal agreements.
The grant received will cover two parts:
- Trust scoping - the council need to explore how a trust would work including finances, ownership of asset, future council liabilities, what the trust model would look like and how to make the next steps a reality. Once this phase has been completed, a full proposal with options will be taken to North Northamptonshire Council’s Executive and Full Council for consideration.
- If the proposals are approved and a decision is taken to proceed with moving the Chester House Estate into new governance, funds will be used to implement the charitable trust and new governance.
At present, no decision has been made on how the Chester House Estate should operate in the longer term. But Council officers will start work on scoping out options in the coming weeks.
Cllr Helen Howell, North Northamptonshire Council’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Sport, Leisure, Culture and Tourism, said:
“Since opening 3 years ago, the Chester House Estate has gone from strength to strength, developing the offering on site and growing the number of events throughout the year, whilst providing a home for small, growing businesses, opportunities for students and visitors along with access to acres of parkland to enjoy and a beautiful farmhouse cafe. The Estate is designated as an ancient scheduled monument with grade II* protected buildings, and 10,000 years of history for visitors to access.
“We are very grateful to National Lottery players and The National Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting this piece of work. This work is about securing, protecting and future proofing such an excellent asset for the whole of North Northamptonshire. The site attracts visitors from across North Northamptonshire and further afield - the Chester House Estate has become the area’s go-to destination for family friendly events and we hope this continues to be the case as the site moves forward.”
Jason Smithers, Leader of the Council, said:
“We are now in a position where we should look to the future of the Chester House Estate and the governance options for the site to ensure it continues to thrive for many years to come. The grant we have received from National Lottery Heritage Fund will help us look at the options, scope out the site’s future and make a measured decision.”
More details on the progress and next steps will be published through the council’s channels.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in the strategic plan, Heritage 2033.
Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.
The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.
The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
