Have your say on draft Stanmer Park plan
Brighton and Hove City Council is consulting on its plans to enhance and improve Stanmer Park, which is situated next to the University campus.
Students and staff have the chance to play a role in shaping the council’s draft masterplan to restore the estate “to its former historic glory”.
Among the council’s proposals are renovating more than a dozen listed buildings - and finding new uses for them.
An historic walled kitchen garden would be brought back into use and the estate’s listed 18th-century parkland recreated, including planting clumps of trees.
Stanmer’s 485-hectare estate boasts a nationally significant Grade 2 listed landscape and stable block plus 16 Grade 2 listed buildings. Located within the South Downs National Park, it provides a setting for the Grade 1 listed Stanmer House.
Biodiversity, sustainability and access would be improved, along with more opportunities for education and community involvement.
Part of the plan is to ensure that Stanmer becomes a key gateway into the South Downs National Park. It would entail better sustainable transport links to Stanmer. On-site parking and traffic management would be improved; a new path for cyclists and pedestrians would be created; and a visitor information centre would offer cycle hire.
The project is jointly managed with the South Downs National Park Authority, which is co-funding the scheme.
Staffed exhibitions about the draft plan are being held in Stanmer Park on Sunday 13 April (from 2-4pm at Stanmer Church) and Saturday 19 April (from 10am-4pm at Stanmer House).
Exhibitions are also being held at locations in Brighton city centre.
The chair of the council’s environment committee, Councillor Pete West, said: “There’s great potential to restore Stanmer’s landscape and buildings to their former glory.
“This plan will help us preserve, and bring back into use, the wonderful listed buildings for future generations to enjoy.
“It will also improve public access, promote understanding of the park’s history, increase volunteering and learning opportunities, better manage traffic and restore the setting of Home Farm as the heart of the park.”
Initial work, begun in April 2012, launched an investigation into the feasibility of refurbishing Home Farm and included producing a Landscape Vision for Stanmer Park.
In summer 2013, students and staff were invited to take part in an information-gathering exercise to determine how people used the park.
A National Lottery grant or other forms of external funding would be sought to implement the master plan.