With £4million allocated to the Destination Dreamland project through the Town Deal and a further £4million private sector match funding, this project aimed to create a year-round, state of the art entertainment and conferencing venue, programmed with events and content to complement and expand on visitation to the Dreamland Amusement Park. It would have seen the refurbishment of the sea-facing Sunshine Café, turning it into a workable consumer events and hospitality space. The ground floor had been set to provide a temporary home for The National Cultural Centre, which registered CIC and Margate-based community organisation, People Dem Collective.
On Wednesday 14 February 2024, Dreamland advised that it wouldn’t be accepting the funding. This followed the acquisition of Sands Heritage Ltd by LN-Gaiety.
Following a Cabinet decision on 14 March 2024, this funding has now been reallocated to the Margate Winter Gardens as part of the Town Deal.
Next Steps:
This funding needs to be reallocated. There are a number of conditions to reallocating this funding set out by central government. Ideally it should be to a project already part of the the Town Deal programme. If it were to be allocated to a new project that doesn’t already have government approval through the Margate Town Investment Plan, a new business case would need to be submitted to central government for approval.
We are committed to ensuring that the Margate Town Deal projects that have already been approved will benefit. It has also been confirmed that we will not transfer funding between Margate and Ramsgate. The Destination Dreamland project funding therefore needed to be reallocated to a Margate Town Deal project. A proposal for the £4million funding to be reallocated to the Winter Gardens was agreed by Cabinet on Thursday 14 March 2024.