A PROJECT to improve accessibility in a section of Ponteland Park is back on track after an insurance issue was resolved.
In November, the Friends of Ponteland Park (FOPP) group was successful in its application to the Big Lottery Fund for almost £10,000 to make it easier for people to get up and down the slope at Oxbow Lake.
The funding will enable steps and a boardwalk to be built down the approach on the east side of the sheltered lake in order to access a new dipping platform.
As the FOPP has no public liability insurance, the town council was asked to place the orders.
But the Big Lottery Fund would not allow the money to be transferred to the authority and this caused a short delay to the project.
It has now been sorted as a formal agreement has been reached with FOPP to ensure that it is covered by the council’s public liability insurance and design warranties for the work can be switched.
Once the scheme has been completed, the authority will take over maintenance of the boardwalk and the site.
There will also be some planting as well as the installation of seats, nest boxes and bat boxes.
Along with pond dipping, people of all ages will be able to observe the wide variety of bird and aquatic wildlife in the area.
Source: Morpeth Herald
