New CCTV, park football cages, improved market stalls and upgrades to community buildings are among the projects set to receive funding after Mansfield District Council was awarded £1.5m for local improvements.
The district and its surrounding areas secured the money from the Government’s Pride in Place Impact Fund, a £150m national programme intended to help councils support projects that improve local communities.
Mansfield District Council was told it would receive the funding in October last year. Applications then opened to local businesses, charities and community organisations, before closing in February.
On Friday, 3 July, council chief executive James Biddlestone approved funding for 19 projects, selected from 46 applications.
The allocations remain subject to further discussions, agreements and the signing of contracts and documents. All projects must be completed by the end of March next year.
Warsop Parish Council has been awarded £70,000 for The Shed, formerly known as the Adam Eastwood Building, a community space based in an old warehouse in Warsop. The funding will be used to help turn the building into what is described as a safe, welcoming and fully accessible community hub, including a new multi-sports indoor floor and an indoor climbing wall.
The Hub, a youth centre on Yorke Street in Mansfield, will receive £80,000. The centre opened in November last year in a former gym and is run by the Inspire & Achieve Foundation. It supports disadvantaged young people aged 16 to 26, particularly those who are unemployed, by connecting them with activities, opportunities and support. The funding will help pay for improved disability access, a kitchen where young people can learn cooking and life skills, new classrooms, an IT suite with computers and additional mentoring rooms.
The Salvation Army building on Victoria Street will also receive £80,000. The money will be used to create a soft play area for children, open a new café and renovate the kitchen, with the aim of improving accessibility and wider community use.
Mansfield Wildlife Rescue, based in Pleasley Vale, has been allocated £38,900. The charity, which cares for injured or stranded wild animals and birds, plans to use the funding for two additional units at its headquarters. One will be used for the treatment and rehabilitation of wildlife, while the other will provide a classroom-style space for school visits.
Volunteer It Yourself, a community interest company, will receive £50,000 for work at Stacey Road Community Centre and Berry Hill Park bandstand. The company told the council it wanted to support facilities in need of urgent improvement in some of the most deprived areas of Mansfield. Berry Hill Park has already benefited from a separate £3.2m investment, which paid for a new adventure play area and café.
Warsop Town Hall will receive £50,000 towards its redesign and development. The building was taken over by Lifespring Pentecostal Church in 2023 after Warsop Parish Council said it was struggling financially to keep it open. The church said it wanted to turn the building into a community hub and recently began renovation and repair work. The latest funding will support changes to the internal layout, new accessible toilets, a lift, LED lighting and automatic doors.
Mansfield Community Voluntary Service, a not-for-profit organisation that provides support and grants to other organisations, will receive £100,000. It plans to use the money for a rolling grants programme aimed at hard-to-reach communities, with the funding due to be distributed by December this year.
Mansfield District Council will retain £200,000 to support the reopening of a disused community centre on Barrowhill Walk, on the Oak Tree Lane estate. The aim is for the building to host community activities and events and be made available to a range of service providers.
A further £25,000 has been allocated for a new CCTV camera in Mansfield town centre, although its exact location has not been disclosed. The camera will be able to record around the clock, with the council saying the aim is to help reduce crime and reassure the public.
The council will also spend £60,000 on three new murals at separate town centre locations as part of a pilot art trail.
Mansfield market will receive £60,000 for improvements to market stall infrastructure. The project is expected to sit alongside the council’s wider plans to regenerate the Market Place, where a separate £2m streetscaping scheme is currently going through the planning process. That scheme includes proposals for a town garden with trees and a water feature, upgraded stone surfacing, improved lighting, seating and street furniture.
A £10,000 allocation will fund a pilot scheme for inclusive sensory-aware community spaces inside the Four Seasons Shopping Centre. The spaces are intended to support autistic and other neurodivergent people, with further details expected to be announced.
Another £10,000 will be used for minor repairs and painting to shops in and around the marketplace, also complementing the wider streetscaping plans.
Several parks and open spaces will also receive funding. Ladybrook Park has been allocated £100,000 for a new multi-use games area, delivered by the district council with the Ladybrook Friends group. The facility is expected to provide a hard-court area for sports such as football and basketball, mainly for use by young people.
Peafield Park in Mansfield Woodhouse will receive £100,000 for enhanced play equipment. The park already includes toddler and junior play areas, a multi-sport pitch, a skate park, a bike track, a wildflower meadow, trails, woodland, an all-access path and a sensory garden. The council says the new funding will help make the play area more attractive to children of different ages and stages of development, particularly children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The Carrs, off the A60 between Warsop and Church Warsop, has been allocated £90,000. The money will be used to improve the children’s play area, including specialist equipment for children with limited mobility, better facilities for children in their early teens and more space for families and social interaction. The site is managed by Mansfield District Council.
Manor Park in Mansfield Woodhouse will receive £100,000 for similar improvements to its children’s play area. Council documents say the aim is to strengthen wheelchair-friendly play provision in response to community demand.
Oak Tree Open Space, next to the community centre on Barrowhill Walk, will also receive £100,000. The improvements will again focus on inclusive and accessible equipment for children with limited mobility, as well as facilities for older children, which the council says are currently lacking.
The final allocation is £60,000 for Pencil Park in Warsop, where accessibility improvements will be the main focus. Councillor David Hughes, who represents the Netherfield ward on Mansfield District Council, previously referred to a multi-use games area when announcing the successful funding bid in May.
In total, the 19 allocations amount to £1,383,900. Of this, £668,900 will go towards community spaces, £165,000 towards high street and town centre improvements, and £600,000 towards parks and open spaces.
Just over £116,000 remains from the £1.5m fund. Mansfield District Council will keep the money as a residual budget in case further funding is needed for projects with the potential to deliver significant community benefit.
Mansfield’s Labour Executive Mayor Andy Abrahams said: “It is amazing how far £1.5m goes in bringing a series of tangible and meaningful improvements to this district.
“Some of this funding, once approved, will enable us to carry out the kind of projects that come under the ‘nice to do’ heading but for which local authorities have rarely had the spare cash available, such as upgrades to play areas.
“It is these kinds of neighbourhood enhancements that can really improve people’s quality of life.”
By Joseph Connolly, Local Democracy Reporter