New business role at Tatton Park
Cheshire East Council has appointed Carole Mullineux to the newly created post of business development manager as it attempts to deliver extra attractions on the estate.
The council is facing strong local opposition from residents to certain plans including a children's storytelling theme park, called BeWILDerwood, planned to occupy 125 acres of woodland.
Mullineux will join the Tatton management team from Monday, reporting to Brendan Flanagan, Tatton Park and Cheshire East visitor economy manager.
Cheshire East Council said in a statement: "This role will be instrumental in delivering the Tatton Park Vision, the park's five-year plan to develop its visitor experiences and fully realise its full potential and will oversee the park's commercial and marketing activities."
Mullineux previously worked in marketing and business development positions with Royal & SunAlliance, Venture UK and the Co-operative Wholesale Society.
Flanagan said: "As part of the Tatton Vision we have realigned our structure and staff roles to help deliver the long-term benefit we seek. Carole's role is instrumental in developing our capacity to deliver these benefits and ensuring a sustainable financial future for this historic estate."
Mullineux added: "I am really looking forward to working with the rest of the team at Tatton, understanding what is important to our visitors and developing new and existing products and services to enable the Tatton brand to continue to flourish."
Tatton Park is managed and financed by Cheshire East Council on behalf of the National Trust. The 1,000-acre deer park attracts 750,000 visitors a year.
Local resident object to the Bewilderwood plans for a number of reasons, not least because Cheshire East’s business plan for the park appears to be based on giving Bewilderwood a pile of cash to fund the development. Perhaps if Cheshire East want to go down this route they should at least be competitively tendering the opportunity to use Tatton Park as the basis for a commercial venture to ensure that the residents of Cheshire East get the best return on the loan they will be handing out? Another operator may feel that they are prepared to pay more and/or borrow less than Bewilderwood?
By Nick
Great to see more investment going into Tatton to improve the leisure offer – hopefully bringing more jobs and increased visitor spend for the local economy
By Dan
Agree with comment regarding £5m loan. When the planning application first went in CEC denied they had any interest in the development and only through a freedom of information request (which CEC fought) did the truth come out. We are constantly told CEC has no money, yet acts like a bank to a single business!
By Prairie Dog
CEC seem to live in a fantasy world. AstraZeneca? We don’t want them as it doesn’t contribute much to the area. Bewilderment? Yes that will make a bucket load of cash. Complete incompetence. Lets just hope that Tatton Park does not become a “Disney” type attraction. CEC local residents are watching your every cock up
By freddie mac
It’s good to see an appointment made from the corporate world. No doubt the benefits of this appointment will pay off.
By John S