Latest news with #UrbanGreenNewcastle
BBC News
15-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Two Newcastle parks given back Green Flag awards
Two city parks have won back their Green Flag status, a year after losing the prestigious and Walker parks, both in Newcastle, have reclaimed the Keep Britain Tidy accolade for green spaces after missing out a year 150-year-old Leazes Park was the subject of a row over damage caused after it hosted a music festival in May 2024, while there were concerns over anti-social behaviour and arson at Walker Flag judges said "great strides have been made" to improve the parks over the past year. Newcastle City Council took control of the city's parks when management charity Urban Green Newcastle (UGN) was put into liquidation. The return of the flags at the two parks, as well as the existing awards retained at Exhibition Park and Jesmond Dene, means Newcastle has four parks that hold the status with the environmental charity. Judges said there had been "huge improvements" in order to "return Leazes Park to a very attractive, well-managed green space much enjoyed by a great number of visitors". The Victorian park was not even entered for the 2024 awards, while locals had complained of the historic attraction being "damaged beyond repair" under UGN's Hay, the Labour-run council's deputy leader, thanked volunteers and friends groups, as well as businesses and the public, for their support and time which has lead to the "fantastic achievement".He said: "Urban Green Newcastle achieved a great deal during its five years, and the progress we've made since March shows we are building on that strong foundation. "The news that four of our parks have met the high standards required for Green Flag accreditation is a credit to the hard work and commitment of the teams who maintain them, making sure they remain enjoyable for both residents and visitors." Blakelaw councillor Marion Williams, of the Friends of Leazes Park, said the community had "worked hard" alongside the city council to win back the Green Flag through measures such as litter picks, and there were plans to plant a new warned it would "take time" to make major repairs, but there was now a "working relationship" between friends groups and parks chiefs. Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
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.
