A CHARITY’S plans to boost a town’s employment opportunities with heritage and tourism developments have been given a £1m grant.

The Auckland Castle Trust (ACT) got the money from the Garfield Weston Foundation to fund up to 28 apprenticeships in the new Walled Garden at Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland, over the next three years.

The Weston Bursaries, as the posts will be known, will include opportunities in horticulture, catering, visitor services and heritage building.

The donation is the second given to Auckland Castle Trust by the family-founded, grant-making trust in 2016 and among more than £900million given to UK causes since it was established in 1958.

Foundation director Philippa Charles said: “The Weston Bursaries are an important part of our work in the North East region and we look forward to seeing talented young people build successful careers and contribute to their community, we are confident the region will benefit from all that Auckland Castle has to offer.”

Auckland Castle’s Walled Garden will be a reimagining of the palace’s original 17th century plot and feature a contemporary glass restaurant which will use homegrown produce in its kitchen.

Due to launch in 2018, the garden is part of a wider £70m regeneration programme by ACT designed to transform Bishop Auckland into a faith, art and heritage destination of international significance and help bring about an economic transformation of the town.

The project, which also includes a new Spanish art gallery and research centre, hopes to create more than 7,000 opportunities for heritage skills and training over the next three years, with The Weston Bursaries offering a direct route for developing new skills.

Rebecca Coates, human resources director for Auckland Castle Trust, said: “We are very pleased to be working with the Garfield Weston Foundation to fund 28 apprenticeships in Auckland Castle’s Walled Garden.

“The Weston Bursaries and other similar initiatives will play a key role in helping to prepare the workforce in Bishop Auckland for the employment opportunities that will arise with the restoration of the Castle, as well as the wider regeneration of the town as a whole.”