WORK on the £4.5 million restoration of Keighley’s Cliffe Castle Park is on track to be completed in the summer.

The ornate iron gates on the Skipton Road entrance are due to be refitted in the next couple of weeks after restoration

The refurbished Holly Lodge gates on Spring Gardens Lane will be refitted nearer the end of the project when access for contractor’s vehicles will no longer be needed.

The timeline was revealed this week following a progress meeting involving Bradford Council’s hundred partners in the lottery-funded project.

Following the fitting of the park’s new 9.5 tonne dome and cupola last month, glass roof fitting and sealing is almost complete, allowing work to start on the interior of the buildings.

The Dome House will later be home to a newly planted Norfolk Island Pine Araucaria excelsa and will form part of the glasshouse range which will include new café and toilets for visitors to the park and museum.

Waterproof pond linings are being fitted and gardeners are getting ready to plant in the new historically accurate flowerbeds.

Bradford Council successfully bid for £3.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Parks for People programme started back in June 2016 to carry out the work.

The project, supported thanks to National Lottery players, will see the restoration of Victorian features, which have long been neglected, such as a fountain and decorative streetlights.

The project has been designed with support from volunteers in the Cliffe Castle Park Conservation Group.

Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “It’s really good to see everything coming together and whole area starting to take shape.

“It will be amazing in the summer when visitors will be able to appreciate both the museum and the park in their full splendour.”

Philip Rushworth, of the Cliff Castle Park Conservation Group, said: “It is really exciting to be able to see something new every time I visit the park.

• Grand reopening planned for July. See this Thursday’s Keighley News for details.