Queens Drive Space at Exmouth gets £20,000 tidy up
Queens Drive Space at Exmouth gets £20,000 tidy up

A big tidy up of Exmouth’s Queens Drive space, costing more than £20,000, has been completed with the area now reopen to the public.

From Friday 1 April, tourists and local residents alike will be be able to sip drinks and eat delicious food, provided by local traders, throughout the day and evening in the newly revamped area. 

Contractors, appointed by East Devon District Council's (EDDC) property team, have now removed some of the existing seating, both permanently installed and old wooden picnic benches, and replaced them with 24 new picnic benches made from recycled materials.

The existing sun shelters have been maintained, cleaned and all of the timbers treated, with additional structural supports being added.

The festoon lighting, which was not working, has also now been replaced and the supporting poles and barrels have been relocated and redecorated.

The works, which have taken around two weeks to complete, is thanks to funding secured from the Welcome Back Fund.

Councillor Nick Hookway, East Devon District Council’s portfolio holder for culture, sport, leisure and tourism, said:

This work will give the Queen’s Drive Space a much needed tidy up to make the area safe, comfortable and attractive for residents and visitors. Funding for this work has come from the Welcome Back Fund.

The site will re-open shortly for the summer season with traders arriving on site soon. I have little doubt that the coming summer promises to be very busy on the Queen’s Drive Space with the added benefit of the extra bank holiday to allow us all to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

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European Regional Development Fund

This project was funded from the East Devon Welcome Back Fund project that is receiving an allocation of up to £230,991 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.  The Department for Communities and Local Government (now The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union, ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations.  For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding