Press Release
Coalfield regeneration funding to boost Whitehaven’s tourism economy
10 November 2005
A £4m investment from national regeneration agency English Partnerships in the former Haig colliery site and the present Haig Colliery Mining Museum at Whitehaven, Cumbria, is set to boost the town’s tourism economy and stimulate further investment.
Haig colliery closed in 1986. It was added to the National Coalfields Programme in 2002. Managed by English Partnerships, the Programme aims to create new jobs, homes, leisure facilities and open space in former coalfield communities throughout England.
The funding will help to transform the former Haig colliery site into a more pleasant environment thereby improving the setting of the adjacent housing area and providing an attractive landscape to the Haig Mining Museum, helping to attract more tourists to the town.
The Museum, which traces the history of mining in the area, is located in the former pithead and engine room of the colliery and currently attracts 10,000 visitors per year.
The plans include proposals to landscape 37 ha of the site and to link the harbour to the cliff-top museum with a new footpath and a cycle trail. A plaza area with seating and lighting will encourage people to stop and enjoy the sea views.
There will also be improvements to Kells Rugby Club - an important part of the local community – which could include new changing rooms and work to the pitch as well as new lighting and surfacing of the gravelled access track.
Following extensive surveys and monitoring, a strategy of ‘managed retreat’ is being taken for an unstable section of the cliff, which has been fenced off. Haig colliery’s long history of depositing spoil on the seaward part of the site has resulted in the tipped spoil slipping towards the sea. This method will allow the slippage to continue at its natural rate until bedrock is reached which will form the new cliff edge.
The Haig colliery project proposals were the subject of a public consultation at the end of 2004 which attracted more than 1,000 visitors.
Partners behind the scheme are English Partnerships, which is funding the clean-up and regeneration of the site as part of its National Coalfields Programme, Copeland Borough Council, which owns the site, urban regeneration company West Lakes Renaissance and Cumbria County Council. It is intended that the site will be offered to the Land Restoration Trust for long- term management.
Neil Mortimer, Head of Coalfields at English Partnerships, said, “This funding will result in a scheme that brings the coalfield site into better use and also contributes to wider regeneration in Whitehaven. There is a good opportunity to link the attractions of the harbour and the museum to provide more for tourists to do and encourage them to spend more time and money in the town.
“We anticipate that this funding will help to lever in additional funds for the museum. Regenerating the colliery site will also act as a catalyst for further regeneration of the coastal fringe area.”
Paul Crooks, Whitehaven Project Manager of West Lakes Renaissance, said, “This funding will feed into a wider Regeneration Programme being developed for Whitehaven by the partners, progressing the 2003 masterplan into a comprehensive development strategy.
“The Strategy deals with four main areas – the Town Centre, Pow Beck Valley (community and sports area south of the town centre), housing and community areas in Kells, Woodhouse and Greenbank, and the Coastal Fringe. The Haig colliery project will make an impact in improving the coastal environment and will benefit people living nearby and the town’s attractiveness to visitors.”
Councillor Allan Holliday of Copeland Borough Council, said, “This project will bring previously developed land back into use as a valuable community and tourism asset and provide an improved visual aspect for people living within the Kells community and Whitehaven as a whole.”
Pamela Telford, Manager of Haig Colliery Mining Museum, said, “The staff and volunteers are absolutely delighted to be include in this funding programme which will celebrate our considerable industrial coal mining heritage alongside the continued regeneration and tourism elements of Whitehaven town centre and the beauty of the coastal path.”
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