Botanical Gardens Under Threat.

Botanical Gardens Under Threat

A Botanical garden which is faced with closure was lined up for a key role in a near-�1m green scheme which will be publicly launched tonight.

Newcastle University is under fire after deciding not to renew its lease with the city�s Freemen for Moorbank Garden off Claremont Road. The garden is in its 90th year and holds important plant collections and has desert and tropical glasshouses.

Moorbank is in the city�s Wingrove ward, which is home to around 10,000 people and covers much of Newcastle�s West End. Tonight the Greening Wingrove project will launch its new venture based on a �978,000 grant last month from the Big Lottery Fund. Residents at the 6pm meeting at the Beacon Centre at Westgate Road are being invited to contribute greening ideas and will be told about plans for a community co-operative, which will carry the lottery-funded plans forward.

In February, Moorbank Garden itself was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of �12,200 to prepare a bigger bid aimed at increasing public access to and involvement with the site.