Woking Puts Check on £100,000 RHS Wisley Plea for Education Centre

Published on: 16 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 18 Jul, 2019

RHS Wisley – photo Wikipedia

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

An application by RHS Wisley for a £100,000 grant to a multi-million-pound education centre has been put on hold after it received mixed reaction from councillors.

The cash is needed to build a learning centre to help the historic garden deliver cutting-edge research and provide more scientific understanding for schools.

But councillors at Woking Borough Council say the funding should be provided by central government or the garden’s home borough of Guildford.

A spokesperson for Guildford Borough Council said today (July 16,2019): “[We] can confirm that to date RHS Wisely has not submitted a bid for one of its community grants. The council welcomes applications for community grants for projects and initiatives from organisations in the borough that support the council’s priorities.”

The grant application was set to be approved by Woking Council’s Executive members on Thursday (July 11).

Woking Borough Council – photo local democracy reporter

But after opposition was raised by ruling Conservative committee members and Liberal Democrats it was decided to put the decision to a vote for all councillors.

Lib Dem Cllr Will Forster said: “The Liberal Democrat group are not very supportive of this grant. RHS Wisley is a very well-off organisation outside the borough of Woking.”

The money would have come from the council’s capital budget in its community fund but Cllr Forster said this “did not seem appropriate” when grants for borough-based organisations and charities were reduced last year.

He said: “Rather than giving a grant for a building outside the borough, why not give a grant for a building inside the borough?”

The Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning, which RHS Wisley wants to build, is part of a £34.4m investment programme at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens between Cobham and Ripley.

The organisation will contribute £23.1m with a fundraising target of £11.3m to fund the rest.

Membership figures, according to a report for councillors, are set to reach 580,000 by 2022/23. The number of annual visitors is expected to exceed 1.4million.

Cllr Ken Howard said: “It’s of national importance. Because of that I think it should be funded by national grants rather than from the budgets from local governments.”

Council deputy leader Cllr Ayesha Azad said RHS Wisley experts had worked on several projects in Woking, on Sheerwater Estate, Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking Mind and Sythwood Children’s Centre.

She said the new centre would open more opportunities for Woking borough residents and schools to learn more about the environment, climate change and horticulture.

But Cllr Colin Kemp, Conservative, said: “I totally support the work Wisley has done and the work they are going to be doing. But I do understand there are some questions of it being outside the borough.”

Council leader David Bittleston, Conservative, said because it referred to cash from a capital fund going to an organisation outside of the borough the decision would go to a full vote.

A spokesperson from the RHS said: “The creation of the Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning at RHS Garden Wisley is the most ambitious project in the history of the RHS and will bring lasting social, environmental and economic benefits across the local area as well as having a national impact.

“The developments at Wisley strongly support and align with Woking’s Community Strategy, and the new Centre will galvanise our work strengthening communities both in and around Wisley. We cannot deliver our vision without the help of funders and partners who share our goals and we are approaching various funders to support this significant project.”

It will now be put on the agenda at WBC for the full council meeting on July 25.