The 23-hectare park, known by locals as 'The Rec', was opened in 1932 and is one of the few open spaces serving a densely populated inner urban area that includes the Broadwater Farm Estate.

The award has been made as part of a £10.6million funding package to six of the UK’s much-loved parks by the HLF and BIG.**

Further support for the Lordship Rec comes from Haringey Council who will be contributing over £3m in capital and running costs, with a further £400,000 from the Mayor of London’s Help a London Park Scheme and £300,000 from the Environment Agency.

Sue Bowers, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the London region, said on behalf of HLF and BIG: “Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of the year for London parks. Stunning oranges and reds everywhere and crunchy leaves underfoot make it the perfect time to get out and enjoy our wonderful open spaces. This joint investment from HLF and BIG will ensure our much-loved parks such as Lordship Rec continue to be looked after and have a major role to play at the very heart of their local communities.”

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said: “This is cracking news for users of Lordship Rec. Local people should feel proud to have kickstarted this funding success having beaten off stiff competition to secure an initial £400,000 from City Hall in a public vote. Parks such as this are a vital element of our city helping to enhance quality of life for people in search of a tranquil haven.”

The grant will enable the restoration of the park’s unique features including a model traffic area, created in the late 1930’s for children on bicycles and in pedal cars to learn highway safety on a miniature road layout complete with traffic signs and zebra crossings. The money will also be used for:

• restoration of the Moselle River, which includes developing a more natural river course and a long-term water cleansing programme
• restoration of historic features including the Shell Theatre
• a new environment centre, information and community shop, and bike track
• extensive landscaping work throughout the park.

The new Environment Centre will be an exemplar low energy building developed to ‘Passivehaus’ standards. The new building will be constructed with natural, robust materials and will house a new café, toilets and community facilities.

The funds will also be used to develop a programme of activities encouraging more people to use the park, provide training and skills for local people and to recruit and train more volunteers to help with the day-to-day running of the park.

Cllr Claire Kober, the Leader of Haringey Council, said: “This is fantastic news and a tribute to the excellent partnership between the council and the local community that has been developed over many years. This is a significant investment in the borough, so it’s great to have something to celebrate in these challenging times.

“I’d like to thank everyone connected with this scheme for making it happen, as well as the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund for their very generous grant.”

The popular park already receives an estimated 630,000 visitors per year and there is an active local users’ forum and a Friends group.

Dave Morris, Chair of the Friends of Lordship Rec, added: “This grant will help to transform Lordship Rec. It comes after many years of hard work by the local community, the Friends Group and Haringey Council and will mean that the park will have some fantastic facilities.”

David Lammy MP for Tottenham, said: "This is tremendous news for the people of Tottenham. Lordship Rec one of North London's best green spaces and it was my local park when I was growing up, so I'm so happy the parks future is being secured with this grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund."

Notes to editors

* Today’s second-round pass awards are from the Parks for People programme which has a two-stage or two-round application process. The full grant has now been awarded following a successful second-round application from these parks.  

** The six parks receiving funding in this round are:

Telford Town Park, Shropshire - £2.1m
Mote Park, Maidstone, Kent - £1.8m
 Whaley Bridge Memorial Park, Derbyshire - £478,000
Lordship Recreation Ground, Tottenham, London - £3.8m
Mesnes Park, Wigan - £1.9m
Cambuslang Park, South Lanarkshire, Scotland - £551,500 (HLF funded only)

The Parks for People programme uses Lottery funds to support the regeneration, conservation and increased enjoyment of public parks. The programme aims to improve the local environment and put parks firmly back at the heart of community life. In England the two Lottery Funds have been working in partnership from 2006 to deliver a multi-million pound investment in public parks of £150m. Over the past three years, the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has invested up to £80m (in England only) with £70m coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the UK.

HLF is continuing to fund public park projects in 2010 with an investment of £20m each year. The next closing date for applications is 28 February 2011. The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) remains committed to working in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in making a success of the Parks for People programme and has allocated £10 million in its grant budget for 2010/11 towards the programme in England.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK. 

HLF has invested £527m in over 530 historic public parks, gardens, squares and promenades right across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) rolls out close to £2million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project. BIG, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. The Big Lottery Fund and its predecessor bodies have invested more than £1.3billion in environmental initiatives. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Mote Park is a Green Flag winner 2010. Green Flags are a quality standard for public parks. As a condition of Parks for People Lotteries' grant the parks will have to enter for Green Flag status and maintain it for 6 years. www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/

Further information

Mike Snowdon, Haringey Council Press Officer on 020 8489 2963 or mike.snowdon@haringey.gov.uk

Vicky Wilford, HLF Press Office on 020 7591 6046 / 07968 129241 or vickyw@hlf.org.uk

Julia Sweidan, BIG Press Office on 020 7211 1818 or julia.sweidan@biglotteryfund.org.uk