Rafa’s fury cardred over FAIR SCARBOROUGH
Bradley’s foundation given a £50,000 plot of land for free to build sick kids’ holiday home
THE Bradley Lowery Foundation will be given a £50,000 plot of land for the building of a holiday home for sick children.
This week, Scarborough Borough Council’s cabinet will approve the lease of an acre of vacant land to give the charity at no charge.
Bradley’s battle with cancer captured our hearts as the ferocious Sunderland AFC supporter struck up a bond with striker Jermaine Defoe before he died in July 2017.
Six-year-old Bradley, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma as a toddler, appeared as a Black Cats mascot when it emerged his cancer was terminal in December 2016.
After he passed away last year, Bradley’s mother Gemma, from Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, set up the foundation to support ill children.
The foundation contacted the council to find some land on which to build the children’s home in Scarborough, which was the last place Bradley’s family went on holiday before he died.
However, the council will offer the charity the lease at ‘nil valuation’ with a maximum annual rent of £1.
The report, which will be put before cabinet tomorrow, says it is giving the land free of charge to “facilitate the charity in its aim of providing a state-of-theart holiday home for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families”.
It adds that it also aims “to promote and improve the health and social well-being of families with children suffering from life-threatening conditions, by enabling them to spend time on holiday in the borough, when they would not otherwise be in a position to do so.”
The land, which is currently a grazing patch and a has a potential value of £50,000, will be used to build a two-storey and five-bedroom
house with a sensory garden, hot tub, sauna and pool.
In April this year when the foundation was planning the children’s home, Gemma said that Scarborough “made us feel welcome”.
She said: “We have been meeting the architects to discuss the plans and design the facilities how we want them to look. If we find around £600,000 it will cover the costs for the holiday home.
“We are very keen to be in Scarborough and hope to be meeting with the council there within the next few weeks to discuss our proposals. “Scarborough holds lots of lovely memories for us as we spent our last holiday there with Bradley and it was just a few weeks before he passed away.
“The people of Scarborough really took us in and made us feel welcome and it also has lots of great things for families to do.”
The report also says that the children’s home will help to promote the local tourist economy. Justifying the lease, it said: “As a small family-based charity, the Foundation will be relying on significant fundraising to bring this project to fruition.
“The council has the ability to use its land to improve the well-being of those families assisted by the Foundation, by bringing them to the borough to enjoy a state of the art facility within exceptional surroundings, during periods of serious illness, while also promoting the Borough’s tourist economy.
“It is therefore proposed that a long lease at nil value is granted.”
The report also states that while the land is currently worth £15,000 it has a potential £50,000 value.
Bradley’s charity was set up after the inspirational youngster died in July last year and was launched at a glittering gala ball held at Gateshead’s Hilton hotel in February.