Lincoln Castle, one of the city's biggest tourist attractions, has been taken to task as being the 'main barrier to further development of Lincoln's visitor economy'.
In a report to Lincolnshire County Council's (LCC) Value for Money Scrutiny Committee, the Historic Lincoln Partnership (HLP) says that 'the castle should complement the cathedral as a major tourist attraction, but is currently offering a poor visitor experience and the area is failing to fulfil its potential as a tourism destination'.
Major issues are said to be the castle's state of repair, its lack of accessibility, restrictions caused by the presence of the Crown Court in the castle grounds, and the Magna Carta display within the castle building not reflecting its iconic status.
A regeneration scheme is planned, with HLP making an approach for Round 2 funding totalling nearly £18m to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in November.
The proposed works will be in three phases - Castle Walls, Prison and Crown Court.
The castle walls will be repaired and a complete wall walk circuit introduced, in addition to lift access and a new staircase being created to the east walls. New railings will also be installed.
The prison will provide the ticketing, shop, cafe and site orientation and education facilities, while the crown court will provide much of the interpretation under the themes of Power, Justice and Accountability. Court Room 1 will be unchanged and used for re-enactments, Court Room 2 will feature an av presentation and Court Room 3 will feature interpretation on Magna Carta's 800-year life and impacts. There will be access to a newly built vault with cases containing Magna Carta, the Charter of the Forest, and a rotating display of documents from the cathedral.
However, a major sticking point to the project is the presence of HMCS (Her Majesty's Courts Service) in the court building. HLP says the HLF bid will fail unless HMCS agrees to leave the site by March 2013. Under the circumstances, LCC will be left as the sole funder of the repair work with - HLP believes - the castle remaining a poor visitor attraction.
In a recent development, the under secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, Jonathan Djanogly, in a meeting with LCC leader, Martin Hill, and MP for Lincoln, Karl McCartney at a meeting in September has agreed to have another look at the decision to relocate.
HLP was formed in 2004 through an agreement between LCC, the cathedral, the city council and English Heritage in recognition of the poor performance of many of the historic buildings in 'uphill' Lincoln compared with other historic cities.
