Is Sunderland City Council playing fair with park cash?
Run down Kirklea Park playground in Kirklea Road, Houghton.
AN Echo investigation has revealed that more than £680,000 for play park improvements remain unspent despite some of the facilities becoming rundown, derelict and “dangerous”.
The money has been building up since 2005. All of it has been received through deals the council has reached. These Section 106 arrangements are where money is given to a council to spend on improving an area from developers.
From 2005, £80,000 has been collected by the council to spend on Kirklea Park, in Houghton, and so far not a penny has been spent.
Elsewhere, £100,000 was received in 2009 to spend on play facilities at the Billy Hardy Sports Complex, Hylton Castle play area or Castletown Primary School.
And in the same year, £46,000 was acquired to spend on St Matthew’s Playing Fields and Silksworth Sports Complex play areas – again, none of this money has been spent.
One resident, who lives next to Kirklea park, on Windsor Crescent, said: “I was told when the new houses were built that it was part of the deal they would be spending the money on improving the park.
“Well, it’s clear that has not happened and to me it actually looks dangerous the way it is now.
“At the moment, all it attracts is trouble and antisocial behaviour.
“It might be treated with more respect if it was in better condition.”
Another resident said: “I think it’s really important that the kids have a safe place to play and they don’t have that now.
“I’m quite new to the area but if I had young children I would definitely not let them play on it.”
The council could also find itself in a position where developers might ask for the money back if it is not spent in the way it was agreed.
The information, which was obtained by the Echo through a Freedom of Information Act request, also revealed that the council is waiting to collect more than £2.5million from similar agreements.
Robert Oliver, leader of Sunderland Conservatives, said: “This is a very large amount of money which should be used for the benefit of the people of Sunderland as quickly as possible and the council needs to address this delay.
“The Coalition Government has recently urged councils to revisit Section 106 agreements to ensure they are still viable and of good value as many were made several years ago.”
Councillor Bryan Charlton, portfolio holder for prosperous city on Sunderland City Council, said: “Each Section 106 legal agreement is unique and has clauses and timescales as to when the money has to be spent by.
“Of the £685,160 collected, £560,537 relates to ongoing schemes where those deadlines are still live and works can be expected to take place. The remaining £124,569 is for historic schemes for play space.
“In Sunderland, we recognise that play is an important part of a child’s life and we are committed to ensuring high-quality provision.
“Unfortunately at times there is insufficient funding from Section 106 alone to develop more high-quality play sites.
“We continue to develop play sites as additional resources to compliment Section 106 funds become available, ensuring these high-quality play developments are aligned with the priorities set out within the Play and Urban Games Strategy.”
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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Comments
There are 14 comments to this article
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ann1954
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 03:36 PMSurly no one believes a Councillor actually "found"this money which will have beenclearly available if you knew where to look or even asked.
Only human
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 08:01 PMOdd that my comment pointing out the inaccuracies in this story has failed to appear but equally odd how a letter from a councilor has appeared in the echo the day after this story, detailing the heroic efforts of said councilor to secure funding from section 106 agreements. Anyone know what put the Echo on to this story in the first place? (no prizes for guessing)
auldphart
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:41 AMI was beginning to lean toward the people advocating that the Echo was biased toward Labour. With this disclosure I think not, I hope this one doesn’t disappear too fast and enables the defenders of the faith to justify these actions. :-( Oh, and I glanced at the Politics Section and there they are again with … “Sunderland Council leader defends £62,000-plus bill for foreign trips” “COUNCIL employees have spent thousands of working hours on social networking site Facebook”.
taz
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 10:29 AMStop voting labour and at least give someone else the chance to see if they're any better. All that ever happens in Sunderland is meetings. Free coffee and biscuits and trips out to assess the situation. As for 3.5 million on travellers. I always thought travel was the diametric opposite of staticstay. If they want to stay put buyrent a bleedin' house same as everyone else. Why don't we all join in the hippy love trail and when there's no-one contributing and we are all taking we'll see how long our society lasts.
macky53
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 09:09 AMYou only need to look at the council website to see how much our councilors are earning...far harder to find out what we are getting for the money! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask...
stalexloz
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 08:53 AMThs council are refusing to spend this money on our children yet are happy to allocate 3.5 MILLIION to improve travellers sites. This is just wrong but the councillors do not care because they can rest easy that come the next local elections they sare back in without a doubt. I am sick to my stomach with frustration and disappointment.
auldphart
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 11:13 PMI suspect there will be more noise heard when listening to John Cage’s 4’ 33”
auldphart
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 11:07 PMI seem to recall a certain person saying that he would level criticism at the Council when it was warranted. What does it take I wonder??
petebogg
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 07:05 PMraaf - I don't think the Councilors were on strike pal but this is a shocking state of affairs and I think should be formally investigated. What has happened to the money, if the money is there why is that insufficient and where it is sufficient what plans are there to rectify the situation and by when?
Mr_Mop
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 07:03 PM'Sunderland Echo in Investigative Journalism Shocker'.......tomorrows front page headline
raafirankin
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 06:57 PMand these same people went on strike over pensions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sit on their backsides all day,meaningless meetings on how to make the community better!!! get real,and get rid of them! scum
safc68
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 06:55 PMIs this money to be used by our council to send 2 people to South Africa? as it looks like its not going to be used for child play ares!
auldphart
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 06:20 PMSo it appears that the safety of our children takes a back seat. The Echo and the Conservative councillors have questioned these inactions. Are we to believe that these questions will be fobbed off by all this gobblydook from Charlton?? The article states that “The money has been building up since 2005.” and Charlton says “Each Section 106 legal agreement is unique and has clauses and timescales as to when the money has to be spent by.” Some leeway there. Over to you Bob.
Mr Happy
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 05:17 PMOnce again the fine art of being "fobbed off"by a councillor.
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