Newcastle City Council have decided to take back the running of 33 parks and over 60 allotments in the city from the charity set up to run them five years ago, Urban Green.
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00:00Newcastle's City Council have confirmed they'll be taking back control of over 30 of the city's parks.
00:04After agreeing to cut funding for Urban Green, the company set up to look after the parks just five years ago.
00:09The charity was set up to save the council over £110m,
00:12and the belief was that the plan to run 33 parks and more than 60 allotments,
00:15described at the time as visionary, would generate income to be reinvested in Newcastle's green spaces.
00:20Council leader Karen Kilgour has stated that events, including the Covid pandemic,
00:25have meant that taking back running of the parks would represent the best value for residents.
00:28Issues including high repair bills, inflation rates and the council's own restrictions on music festivals
00:34have also been factors cited in Urban Green's difficulties.
00:36Council deputy leader Alex Hayer refutes claims that this backtrack highlights that
00:40setting up Urban Green in the first place was a bad idea.
00:42But leader of the Lib Dem opposition Colin Ferguson remembered that
00:45his party had questioned the decision to set up Urban Green in the first place.
00:49Urban Green had aimed to secure prestigious green flag awards for all 33 of Newcastle's parks by 2026,
00:54but both Leazes Park and Walker Park actually lost that accolade this year.
00:57And only two of the city's parks still retain this status.