News, Politics

Decision to give Newark Castle project £50,000 delayed over value for money concerns

By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter

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A decision to award £50,000 to an ‘interpretation’ project at Newark Castle has been delayed while councillors check it offers good value for money.

Work is currently taking place to restore the site’s Romanesque gatehouse –  which is considered one of the finest examples in the country – complete with an accessible ramp and galleries.

Cost have risen to more than £6m, and Newark and Sherwood District Council is funding an expected £1m shortfall.

Friends of Newark Castle and Victorian Gardens, which has been working with the council on the castle restoration, has also planned a £580,000 interpretation project to help “bring the site to life”.

The group says the project intends to use artefacts, period furnishings, audio-visual techniques and replica features to help visitors better interpret what the castle would have been like hundreds of years ago.

An application has been submitted by Sharon Morley, the group’s chair, requesting £50,000 towards the project from the council’s Gilstrap Charity.

The charity, for which the council is the sole trustee, has already supported similar schemes in the town and on the castle grounds – including a King John exhibition.

However, at a Trustee Board of the Gilstrap and William Edward Knight Charities meeting on Tuesday (June 24), a decision to award the money was deferred to check the project offers good value for money.

Cllr Simon Haynes (Con), who represents Farndon & Fernwood, said he was concerned over the potential perception the authority was using the charity as a “top up” for its ongoing gatehouse project.

“There is a good will here,” he said.

“I don’t for one minute disagree this is a good project to do, but we are putting our necks on the block to a certain degree.

“We need to satisfy ourselves there is value for money coming out of this, that the project is good value for money.”

Newark Castle was originally built in the mid-12th century by Bishop Alexander of Lincoln.

Originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement, it was replaced by an earth and timber fortification after the Norman Conquest.

The bishop, desiring a more impressive castle in Newark, had it rebuilt in stone.

According to documents some of the £50,000 could be spent on a replica cope – the bishop’s cape – which will tell the story of his life.

The money could also be spent on bespoke embroidered hangings, a model castle, replica furnishings – including the bishop’s throne – as well as a replica rose window that would have featured in the audience chamber.

Cllr Haynes added: “What I don’t see is associated costs. So we want to do this bishop’s cope embroidery, so what are the costs to that?

“We have got to – as trustees – make sure we are distributing the money in the right way, so we need to satisfy ourselves each of these elements are value for money for the public.”

Cllr Rowan Cozens (Ind), the council’s deputy leader and portfolio holder for heritage, culture & the arts, said: “I totally hear the concerns, but it is a quite separate thing to what we are doing as a council in terms of the construction and all the rest of it.

“This is more to do with the activities, the education, the outreach of that group of people who volunteer and do a lot for the castle.”

However, she added it would be a good idea to have a member of the Friends of Newark Castle group attend a future meeting to give a presentation providing a “compelling case” for the money.

A decision to award the money was formally deferred, meaning it will be held back, and a presentation is expected by September.