Margate Caves given new lease of life

Thanet District Council has today granted the Margate Caves Community Education Trust a long lease, enabling the attraction to re-open following its £1m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund earlier this year.

Thanet is the UK’s fastest growing tourism destination, with a 19% growth in its visitor economy and the council’s Destination Management Plan supports projects that improve the tourism economy and encourage investment.

The granting of the lease by the council allows the Trust to access this grant as well as the £420,000 Big Lottery Fund it successfully secured last year, thus securing its future.

Cllr Hunter Stummer Schmertzing, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Enterprise Services at Thanet District Council said:

“We are delighted to be able to grant this lease and, on behalf of the council, would like to say a big thank you to the Trust and Friends of Margate Caves who have worked tirelessly over the last six years to conserve these historic caves. They first opened to the public in the 1860s so regenerating this derelict site will not only help attract yet more visitors to the area but also provide learning opportunities and meeting space for the local community.”

Thanet District Council granted permission for the ambitious mixed-use scheme, which includes access to the restored caves, community facilities, a visitor centre and a landmark building to sit over the caves themselves, back in 2015. Designed by award-winning Tunbridge Wells based architects Kaner Olette, the building is expected to open in 2019.

Margate Caves Trustee, Dan Thompson, said:

“Our quirky, historic site sits on the border between the Old Town and Cliftonville, giving visitors a better route between the two. We are also providing much-needed community rooms and creating a new village hall for Cliftonville so we’re making something that really is for both visitors and locals.”

 

About The Margate Caves Community Education Trust

The Margate Caves Community Education Trust (TMCCET) is a charitable organisation established to bring the local community together, re-open the Margate Caves and then manage the heritage site for the benefit of the local community. TMCCET will sustain and transform this important piece of Margate’s heritage.

Margate Caves were closed in 2004. In 2010 Thanet District Council (TDC), which owns the site, filed a planning application for housing. Faced with strong public opposition this proposal was delayed to allow local people to pursue options for saving this historical site and the caves for public benefit. In January 2011 the local community formed The Friends of Margate Caves (FOMC) to develop, pursue and implement a plan to reopen the Caves as a viable concern that would be of public benefit. FOMC commissioned an Options Appraisal for the site and worked with a consultant to develop a first stage business plan. One of the recommendations was that the governance structure needed to be more robust to manage such a project and deliver the public benefit objectives of the group.

Subsequently, in November 2013 The Margate Caves Community Education Trust was formed and registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

The Trust has worked since then to raise funds, reaching the half-a-million mark with a successful application to The Big Lottery Fund announced on 15th November 2016. That grant would have covered the building of a village hall for Cliftonville at the site.

An application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for over £1million to build the visitor centre and reopen the Caves was approved in March 2017. Planning permission was granted and the Trust hopes to open in 2019.

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