Councillor Ian Pattison has praised Beyond the Castle‘s consultation with the public over the weekend on the future of Lancaster Castle’s surrounding area. 

Beyond the Castle is a design team running events and the projects to develop the green space around Lancaster Castle. The consultation took place in Market Square on Saturday 4th August and gave residents and tourists the opportunity to feed their ideas into the group and have a say on what they would like to see the Castle used for in the future and what they want to see in the surrounding area.

“I was happy to meet with David Redmore who is doing an excellent job with the Beyond the Castle group in planning this fresh project,” says Councillor Pattison, who joined the consultation stall and is campaigning for the Castle Beacon to be returned.

“The consultation was imaginative and did an outstanding job, in including a wide variety of individuals of all ages from Lancaster and from outside the city.”

The ‘Beyond the Castle’ project wants to
create a high-quality public space around Lancaster’s historic castle
and priory, down the hill and over the meadows to the quayside.

The first step invites everyone to imagine and design the
possibilities, so ‘Beyond the Castle’ is asking people of all ages to share
their thoughts and big ideas in a series of fun events over the summer
and autumn.

Together with a team of designers and volunteers, people
will have the chance to develop the first plans, with the aim of
revitalising the space. There’ll be a whole series of activity days to
get people thinking about how they use the site at the moment and what
they’d like to see there in the future.

As these plans are developed, any options that are considered will
need to fit in with this historically important area of the city. 

Councillor Pattsion feels the project is vital for the future of Lancaster’s tourism.

“We need to get this space invigorated,” he insists, “and highlight the historic heritage of the city.

“Personally I would like to see the Castle Beacon return so it can be used for events and festivals in the future,” he added. “The Beacon is significant to Lancaster’s historic past and this should be celebrated.

“Now the Castle has ceased being a prison the intention will inevitably be to convert it into a tourist attraction. The Beacon will hopefully be back in place when this goes ahead and we can light it during events for charities, historic groups and the arts.”      

“I have written to the department responsible for Culture at Lancaster City Council on the issue of reinstating the Beacon. I have asked for an officer evaluation and report on how the it could be restored and how it could feature in future events.

“I will be working to get this report as soon as possible and work to get our city’s Beacon back where it belongs.”  

• For more about the Beyond the Castle project, visit http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk/activities/Beyond_Castle