It’s that time of year again when we will soon be holding our Friends of the Dell Park (FDPC) Annual General Meeting (AGM). At our AGM we always make a bit of time for reflection and to consider the great progress we have made. Looking back at 2023, it was perhaps our most significant year to date, with key highlights including:
£100,000 contribution commitment from Chepstow Town Council and additional grant of £8,500 to fund design work and a heritage impact assessment.
Revised and extended park designs published, with thanks to The Landmark Practice.
Attending Spudfest to share our plans and hear people’s views.
Planning application submitted to Monmouthshire County Council and the ongoing support we receive from development officers.
Having not long received the news that planning was approved by Monmouthshire County Council’s Planning Committee, our group couldn’t be happier! Our AGM will now be a really key meeting for us to help focus our efforts on the final piece of the jigsaw...the application for lottery funding. We’ve already made some good progress with this and will be picking up conversations with the case officer in earnest over the coming weeks.
I’m so proud of our small volunteer group and the progress we are making. I know from the outside looking in people may wonder what’s taking so long, but we all have a lot to co-ordinate and it’s a complex project in a beautiful and historic setting that we want to celebrate and not undermine. It’s no walk in the park, trying to create a destination park! Things like this take time, but we are seven plus years in and will keep going until the job is done.Â
If you feel as passionate about improving the park as we do and you’d like to lend a hand, we’d love to hear from you (especially if you have project management experience as we think 2024 could be a busy one)!
Finally, for anyone interested in hearing more about our plans and the work of our group, please do join us for our online Annual General Meeting. The meeting will take place on Teams on Monday 4 March, 8pm. Please email friendsofthedellpc@gmail.com to be sent the invite and joining instructions.
Thanks to everyone for reading and your continued support.
Vicky – Chair of FPDC