£920,000 Cafe for Bute Park

SAVE BUTE PARK

No support for the opening of this Overblown  EDUCATION CENTRE - Big Cafe

the star in Cardiff council’s grandiose attempt to restore commercialise the Park.

… funded from the Lottery at a massive £920 000

… uses the old plant nursery that they closed in favour of importing plants from outside nurseries, including Dutch ones, and ferried in by  juggernaut lorries.

The EDUCATION CENTRE is aimed for

· Horticulture in-house training 

· school groups

· family/tourist information and

· cafe + toilets

It was intended for community use, then evening use was ruled out.  It was originally to be an “academy for horticultural training”.  Tourist information and ice creams etc. are now to be provided at West Lodge and the Summerhouse ‘kiosk’ cafe is fully running.  Let’s predict that the new Centre will be a commercial failure, destined to be closed under a future round of cuts.

What a blow for Lib Dem Cllr Nigel Howells, following the defeat as MP for Cardiff Central!

… a loss-making centre costing £920 000, instead restoring a previous unique feature – the Swiss Bridge over the Castle Moat – at half the cost.

… looks like  misappropriating Restoration Grant funding on a grand scale.