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BBC News
01-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Newcastle Council takes back control of parks
A major shake-up of how city's parks are run has now come into City Council has retaken control of dozens of parks and allotments which it had previously put in the hands of charity Urban Green Newcastle (UGN).The U-turn follows major concerns about the finances of the charity that emerged over the past there remain big questions about the future of the city's green spaces. What is UGN? UGN was given control of 33 parks and more than 60 allotments by Newcastle City Council in was the first major metropolitan area in the UK to hand over the management of its parks in this idea was that, after years of austerity-driven budget cuts, a charity would be better placed to protect the green was hoped UGN would save the city more than £110m over a 125-year council agreed to provide subsidies worth £7.7m to help see the trust through its first 10 years of operation before it became self-sustaining. What happened last year and why is UGN being scrapped? The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in March 2024 that the charity had already burned through all the council subsidy it had been given and predicted a £6.7m shortfall up to admitted the trust would ultimately be unable to survive unless the city council was willing to keep supporting it the council agreed to award a further £1m to keep UGN going for the last 12 months, it also commissioned a review by Forvis analysis concluded there was "no evidence to suggest that UGN will be able to operate without ongoing and substantial financial support from the council for the foreseeable future".The council was given final approval that it would be retaking control over the parks in January. What went wrong? In its most recent set of accounts, which detailed a £700,000 loss in 2023/24, UGN's board of trustees said the original business plan behind its creation was "fatally flawed".One key factor was a dispute with the city council itself over the right to stage big music festivals in Exhibition Park, which had been seen as a key revenue stream. That row in 2022, which followed complaints about noise from the This Is Tomorrow concerts, led to the council imposing strict limits on future and meeting health and safety regulations have also been cited as issues, along with a £900,000 drop in grants and donations last the main factor that has been blamed is the Covid-19 pandemic, which trustees said increased costs and "shifted focus" from finding new sources of income. What did Urban Green achieve? UGN chief executive Carol Pyrah praised the charity for upgrading tennis courts and improving football pitches at Walker Park and Paddy Freeman's Park, as well as its work on walking and cycling was lauded for launching events like the Northern Lights trail and for planting more than 12,000 it has also come in for plenty of criticism. Having once aimed to secure Green Flag Awards for all 33 of Newcastle's parks by 2026, only Exhibition Park and Jesmond Dene currently hold that has also been accused of treating the 150-year-old Leazes Park as a "cash cow". After a festival there last spring, damage caused included the knocking over of stone pillars at the Victorian park's entrance, which remain unfixed today. When does the council resume control? From Saturday, management of the parks, more than 60 allotment sites and a similar number of associated buildings is the responsibility of the local 40 staff from Urban Green will be transferred across to the civic centre ahead of the charity being wound council leader Alex Hay said on Friday that Newcastle "boasts some of the most beautiful green spaces in the country, and we are committed to helping them flourish".Hay said the council would be "working with both residents and user groups to ensure these spaces thrive". He added: "We welcome the staff from Urban Green Newcastle who have achieved some fantastic results over the last five years." Will the council fare any better than UGN? At the time of the original handover to Urban Green, the council had slashed its annual parks budget from £2.58m in 2010/11 to less than £1m. Now it has said a minimum of £1.5m would be needed each year just to keep the parks at their current have been questions about how the council, which is poised to sign off on £21m spending cuts next week, will be able to find that money, particularly as it will not be able to access some grant funding in the same way a charity month, Labour was accused of making a "rushed" decision and there were warnings against taking the "nuclear approach" of scrapping UGN the council leadership has insisted there is no better option and argued that, given it would still need to keep funnelling cash to Urban Green even if it was allowed to continue, it would be exposed to financial risks either way. Follow BBC Newcastle on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.
BBC News
08-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Newcastle Leazes Park keepers' lodge could be demolished
A Victorian park keepers' lodge could be demolished over safety deemed the Western Lodge in Leazes Park, Newcastle, a "dangerous structure" in 2024, but it has been in a bad state for Green Newcastle (UGN), the charity which has run the city's parks since 2019, said the lodge was in a "dilapidated condition" when it took having lost Newcastle City Council's funding, it said the authority was taking over control of the building at the end of February and would be the one to move forwards with plans for any demolition. Marion Williams, chair of the Friends of Leazes Park group, said the lodge had been empty since about 2010 when the park keepers were made redundant, but it had been a "rapid decline".She said vandals "just saw it as a place to go and destroy"."It's been incredibly frustrating." A spokesperson for UGN said it had made attempts to "keep members of the public safe" by putting up fencing but there had been regular "unauthorised access" which was "putting people at risk of harm".They said the fire service had been called out to the property "numerous times"."Following an inspection by Newcastle City Council's Building Control Section, Western Lodge has been deemed a dangerous structure and a section 77 Dangerous Structure Notice has been issued requiring the site to be served a demolition notice, or brought back into use," they City Council is set to take back control of the city's 33 parks and more than 60 allotments after it was revealed that UGN was facing a £6.7m shortfall in funds over the next five years.A spokesperson for the council said it was currently working with UGN to transfer assets and a "full review of the estate is under way". Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas here.
