Progress made on £3m revamp of park pavilion to repair years of decline

Doncaster Council has won £2.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the project at Bentley Pavilion and the surrounding park, which were opened when the town was in its 1920s heyday.

Now people who live in the district north of Doncaster town centre, have been invited to a design workshop at the pavilion on April 17 to examine the plans and give their views on changes they want to see.

The park opened in 1923 and the pavilion opened eight years later in 1931.

The development was primarily funded by the Bentley Miners Welfare Fund and was designed to be a venue for entertainment, sport and play for Bentley residents set within attractive gardens.

Facilities included a bandstand, tennis courts, bowling greens, sandpits and a children’s play area. Parts of these features remain today but are in a poor, and in some cases unusable, condition.

Work on the project, which will also be funded with £500,000 of council taxpayers’ money, is expected to start in late autumn 2013 and be completed by summer 2014.

The Pavilion will receive what the council said called “a complete refit” with better access, new catering facilities, a veranda and an area for outdoor events.

The park entrances will be improved, the railings and gates renovated, footpaths upgraded and new gardens created which will include a water fountain.

There will be new seating areas, better lighting across the park and a bandstand for outdoor performances.

Coun Charlie Hogarth, who represents Bentley on Doncaster Council, said: “It’s very important that people get involved with the consultation to influence the future of Bentley Park. It’s brilliant that progress is being made on this project.”