Cuerden Valley Park Trust is an independent charity. The Trust manages Cuerden Valley Park – a 650-acre country park on the outskirts of Chorley. The park was created in 1992 and has been owned and operated by the Trust since that time. The Trust receives no core funding from Government or local authorities and needs to generate significant income each year. As costs rise this is becoming increasingly difficult.
To better maintain the park and the role it plays for both our community and the rich flora and fauna it contains the Trustees and staff team seek to create a more sustainable, environmentally friendly method of managing our green space via the reintroduction of traditional landscape management practices.
These techniques have fallen into decline in recent years with much knowledge being lost. Placing them at the heart of our management and maintenance programme will demonstrate their renewed value and preserve the techniques and knowledge. This aligns with how the park was managed historically. Happily, this would represent a significant cost saving as we could grow and harvest much of the material used, saving on costs and avoiding less environmentally damaging products and practices.
We aim to promote the value of this approach regionally and create a bespoke training space within the park to become a hub for learning and demonstration – training other land managers, charities and community groups.
We will deliver this training as part of an expanded volunteer programme, one which supports and promotes mental health and wellbeing as one of its key principles.
The first step of the project is to design and build a new Heritage Skills Academy (HSA) within the park. This will be built using traditional timber construction techniques and will incorporate a central timber longhouse, workspace and accommodation for residential training. It will also see an expansion of our successful education programme with schools and extend to further and higher education establishments.
We’d really appreciate any thoughts on the above, please use the form below:
Cuerden Valley Park – Heritage Skills Academy Public Consultation – Fill in form
You’ll also be entered into a draw for a £30 Cuerden View Cafe as a thank you!