IN the last week the Conservative administration of Swindon Borough Council said they plan to lease Lydiard Park to a private company in order for that company to run and manage the park.
This is to cut the money the council spends on the park each year which is currently budgeted at £300K.
Conservative Councillor Gary Perkins said he wishes to lease the park in a similar way they leased the council’s leisure facilities, where the council lost all strategic control over the leisure facilities in order to eliminate the money it spent on them.
We’ve already heard from Councillor Perkins that he expects the incoming private company to introduce charges for people parking their cars in the park and he would also be interested to see more weddings and maybe a restaurant at the park.
The Labour Group has already expressed opposition to the Conservative’s plans because we do not believe we should take the park out of democratic hands as the council did with its leisure facilities.
If the administration would like car parking charges to be introduced, or would like a new restaurant or events venue in the park in order to pay for the running costs of maintaining the park, then my question to Councillor Perkins is why not propose this yourself?
Why is it this administration has to give up strategic control of the park in the same way they have done with our leisure facilities in order to raise more income from the park?
We believe all these things could be proposed by the Conservative administration and Swindon residents would still get the opportunity to hold the council accountable for its policy decision on the park.
We do not believe residents would want to see in Lydiard Park what has happened with the Link Centre, where facilities have been closed and promises broken, yet because the leisure centre is run by a private company they have no right of recourse or to hold those policy makers accountable.
The Labour Group will continue to oppose any leasing of Lydiard Park but would be happy to engage with Councillor Perkins and the Conservative administration on ways the council could generate more income from the park without having to lose strategic control of it.
We hope the Conservative administration will change course on this issue and follow the approach outlined.
COUN JIM ROBBINS Labour Group Shadow Lead for Country Parks
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