Sunderland councillors in row over plans to split Barnes Park

A row has broken out between opposition parties over proposals to split Barnes Park over two council wards.

Presently the park, between Barnes Park Road and Springwell Road, is entirely within the Barnes ward, which has two Conservative councillors and one Labour.

A proposal, made to the Local Government Boundary Commission and currently being consulted upon, would make an east-west split in the park to place some of it in the Sandhill ward, which has three Liberal Democrat councillors.

The Conservatives say this would put the "footpath through the middle of the park as the border between two new communities".

Barnes Conservative councillors Antony Mullen and Richard Dunn have launched a campaign to reject what they say is a Lib Dem proposal and have set up an online petition.

In a joint statement, the two Conservatives said: "We strongly oppose putting a boundary through the middle of Barnes Park.

"This is the city's best park, without doubt, and what the Lib Dems have proposed is an act of cultural vandalism.

"Splitting the park in this way would create the potential for conflict between two sets of councillors, who may have different priorities, and open the possibility for one half of it not receiving as much funding as the other, which would leave it looking like two separate parks.

"As councillors, we have invested tens of thousands of pounds of our ward funds into keeping the entire park up to a good standard. That is possible because it exists within a single administrative entity. Dividing the park puts this at risk.

"It is vital that this Lib Dem plan is not agreed to and we ask the public to back our petition to stop this happening."

But the leader of Wearside Liberal Democrats has bluntly rejected the Conservatives' comments and says the Tories have actually asked for the changes.

Cllr Paul Edgeworth is a Sandhill councillor as well as leader of Sunderland City Council's Lib Dems.

He said: "I'm not sure any normal person will actually give a toss about whether Barnes Park is in two electoral districts or one.

"Instead of lame point-scoring, Conservative councillors would be better putting their efforts into tackling antisocial behaviour, nuisance bikes and the rat infestations in Barnes Park."

He also claimed it was the Conservatives who asked the Boundary Commission to use the Barnes Park Extension between Springwell Road and Grindon Lane as a ward boundary.