Sherwood Forest, home to the Robin Hood legend, is set to have a new £13 million visitor centre. The developers behind the Discover Robin Hood project, who were named preferred bidders in 2012, say they are now ready to move to the next stage of after getting finance in place.
Once it is up and running, Discovery Attractions say the centre will create 100 jobs and bring an extra £2 million a year into the local economy.
Nottinghamshire’s tourism industry is estimated to be worth around £1.44 billion and supports 51,500 jobs.
Jennifer Spencer, chief executive of Experience Nottinghamshire, said: “Heritage tourism is extremely important to the local economy and any developments that can be made to improve our tourist attractions would have far-reaching economic benefits on the area.”
“Robin Hood is well known around the world and is an important aspect of our tourism offer. Improving facilities at the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre would be extremely welcome and would greatly enhance the visitor experience.”
“This would make it easier for us to achieve our goal of encouraging visitors to have an overnight stay in Nottinghamshire.”
The county council selected Discovery Attractions as preferred bidder for the project in October 2012. Now, following a series of delays, the finance is in place. Derek Higton, service director for youth, families and cultural services at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “We are delighted Discovery Attractions has announced it has now secured funding for the Robin Hood attraction at Sherwood Forest.”
The County Council now needs to undertake a thorough process of financial and legal checks with Discovery and its funders to ensure that the project can move smoothly on to the next stage, which will involve the finalisation of our contractual arrangements for the delivery of the new visitor centre and accompanying attractions.
We’re hopeful that this process can be concluded over the next few weeks. “We have worked closely with Discovery Attractions to progress this multi-million pound project and we are pleased that we are another step closer to a world-class Robin Hood attraction at Sherwood Forest.”
Marketing director of Discovery Attractions, Rob Gray, said: “We are pleased to announce that we have now secured the final round of funding needed to turn the plans for Discover Robin Hood into reality.”
“Unfortunately, delays have been caused by the extremely difficult financial market but we are now back on track and grateful for the patience and support of Nottinghamshire residents and Nottinghamshire County Council.”
“We are now working together with the county council on the next steps to move the project forward.
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