Big Lottery Fund - Living Landmarks

The proposal for a Great Lines City Park will transform the Great Lines into a special place for local people and visitors to use and enjoy safely. It will conserve and enhance the area’s significant heritage. It will create an internationally important, high quality public park. It will involve local people in designing, building and managing the park and will make a major contribution to Medway's World Heritage Site application for Chatham Dockyard and its defences. Features of the park could include:

• new cycle routes between Gillingham and Chatham, linking the schools, hospitals, shops and universities;
• a new education and visitor centre - somewhere to become involved, get information and receive assistance;
• floodlighting the fortifications to bring them to life in the evening – making Chatham the Edinburgh of the Thames Gateway;
• well-lit areas through the fortifications, using bridges and raised boardwalks to cross the ditches;
• wildlife areas with orchids, skylarks, cowslips and clovers;
• training and apprenticeship opportunities;
• a large landscaped area with tree planting, paths, public art, teenage facilities, adventure play grounds and a cafeteria with fantastic views;
• heritage interpretation, and World Heritage trails;
• a safe area for families to meet, relax, play, eat and exercise.

The outcomes for Medway would be:

• an improved quality of life for all Medway residents, helping to re-establish civic pride and foster a new identity for Chatham and Gillingham in the 21st century;
• a more accessible and safe area for everyone to enjoy, opening up a "green lung" for healthy recreation;
• the celebration of Fort Amherst and the Great Lines as a distinctive landmark;
• a significant contribution towards reduced car travel to Chatham centre for residents on the eastern side of the park, providing safe routes for walkers and cyclists;
• an increased opportunity to bring people together through organised events, sporting activities, walks, cycle paths, skateboard parks, children's play areas and much more;
• access to and interpretation of the military legacy of the Napoleonic defences, which are the most intact dockyard defences in the country;
• community ownership of the park and the promotion of community participation
• opportunities for learning and skills training;
• a link between the Historic Dockyard Chatham, the Royal Engineers’ Museum and Amherst Heritage Centre as important centres for the understanding of the history of the defence of the nation.

For the latest information on project progress, please visit www.chathamworldheritage.co.uk.

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