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A PARK dubbed "the jewel in Salisbury's crown" has been given the approval and funding it needs for a major refurbishment.

District councillors approved plans for the city centre's Queen Elizabeth Gardens at the city area committee meeting on Tuesday night.

A management plan was adopted for the park last year after considerable consultation and then a "friends" group, made up of local people, was created to debate any issues raised.

Presenting the report to councillors, parks manager Reg Williams said: "Queen Elizabeth Gardens is seen very much as the jewel in Salisbury's crown. When we did the consultations it was amazing where people came from. It is a lot of people's first impression of Salisbury and the opportunity to create something really quite special is there."

The plans include a redesign of the triangle area by Long Bridge, the creation of a grass amphitheatre and a high quality formal entrance to the Gardens around the current carpet bed area.

The scheme is estimated to cost approximately £470,000, which would come from the council's reserves. However, some materials were costed at a very high level and, after reassessing those elements, the project costs could be reduced to £430,000.

Cllr Ian Tomes said: "When we first started this I didn't think there was any way you could improve Queen Elizabeth Gardens but I take my hat off to the Friends group - I'm surprised by all the good ideas, like the amphitheatre. I have been proven wrong."

The proposals were unanimously approved.

After the meeting Mr Williams said the next step is to put together a planning application for some parts of the project and, if everything runs smoothly, work could start in mid to late October.

Members of the public can look at the masterplan by contacting Mr Williams on 01722 434239 or Chris Stringer on 01722 434628 to arrange a viewing.

• Refurbishment plans for Hudsons Field, between Castle Road and Stratford Road, also received unanimous approval at the committee meeting.

  The plan involves closing the current access road and transferring it to the existing access by the rugby club, creating a new road link and car park closer to the edge of the field and introducing measures to prevent vehicles from accessing the main field area without authorisation.

  The scheme will cost approximately £290,000, which will also come from the council's reserves. The council's parks department is working on planning applications.

3:15pm Thursday 3rd July 2008

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