Castle Morpeth Borough Council: Castles, Woods & Water
Following a successful bid to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Liveability fund, Castle Morpeth Borough Council asked Erskine to help develop a community driven masterplan for the river corridor from Mitford through historic market town Morpeth to Bothal.
Erskine assembled a team of internationally acclaimed consultants to produce a new vision and masterplan for the area.
The project summary was: ‘Castles Woods & Water is an exciting project supported by the government but owned by the communities of Castle Morpeth. It helps these communities improve and make the most of the historic buildings, ancient woodland and river from Mitford to Bothal. It’s about offering the people of Castle Morpeth information and access so they can explore, enjoy and share their extended back garden’ for years to come.’
Following very successful engagement with stakeholders and the community and detailed research into the area, Erskine created a brand for the area - ‘Castles, Woods & Water’. A web site was created to keep the community informed along with a pro active PR campaign.
Wide ranging projects from renewable energy and children & young peoples educational materials to sport, leisure and heritage, were identified. Technical studies on numerous sites were carried out and a full options appraisal developed. Funding bids were placed and a community led Development Trust was created to maximise sustainability.
Castles, Woods & Water was awarded the Cleaner, Safer, Greener prize by DEFRA for the best rural regeneration project of 2005.
Trevor Walker - Director of Neighbourhood, Regeneration & CultureThe ethos of hard working professionalism and commitment displayed to date, whilst maintaining an appropriate sense of enjoyment and fun, is a lesson to us all which I hope we can also live up to.
Project leader
