Two popular leisure attractions have had their future secured with Nene Park Trust taking over responsibility for running them.
The long established Peterborough Sculpture Collection and the new Lost World soft play and activity centre, which opened just prior to lockdown at Serpentine Green, are now under the control of Nene Park Trust, following the termination of Vivacity’s contract with Peterborough City Council.
The new arrangement ensures they can continue to be run and looked after for the benefit of Peterborough people and also safeguards several jobs.
Much of the Peterborough Sculpture Collection is already on permanent outdoor display at Thorpe Meadows and also includes the celebrated Gormley statues on the roof tops around Cathedral Square in the city centre.
Matthew Bradbury, chief executive of Nene Park Trust said, “By bringing together the remaining activities of Vivacity with the growing offer provided by Nene Park Trust, we take another step closer to delivering our Master Plan ambitions of providing an improved environmental, cultural and leisure offer for the city.
“By operating assets away from the park itself we can ensure more people benefit from our work. Our aim now is to build on the work of Vivacity and develop these destinations to improve the culture and recreation offer for the benefit of the community.”
Stewart Francis, chairman of Vivacity said, “Our trustees were determined to ensure the long-term future of these activities. They are key parts of the Vivacity offer that we had successfully and enthusiastically developed for the benefit of local people.
“Today’s announcement does just that – Nene Park Trust is the perfect partner and can offer long term commitment and investment to these important assets. This agreement also protects jobs – an important consideration at this difficult economic time.”
Oliver Burke, head of operations at Nene Park Trust added, “Lost World is already a very popular destination for many local families and we plan to build on this success. Any surplus it makes will be reinvested across our charitable activities, providing income to help maintain our beautiful green spaces, which provide a haven for nature and personal wellbeing, for the benefit of Peterborough residents and future generations.”
Lost World is currently closed due to Covid restrictions and its staff are on furlough. Nene Park Trust aims to reopen it in 2021, subject to any remaining restrictions.
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