The county council seems to be going full steam ahead with the next stage of it's Asset Transfer plans. Presented as 'putting local people in control of their amenities' the whole programme is merely shifting the costs to local town and community councils and other local organisations.
Day centres, luncheon clubs, public toilets (top secret) and sport grounds have either been offloaded or are in the process of being 'transferred' and now, an astonishing ninety-six parks and playgrounds are listed in a Public Notice as the council 'intends to dispose' of the rest of their open spaces.
According to the terms of the Asset Transfer, these open spaces will be transferred under long term leases so will, as the council will no doubt inform us, be kept in public ownership. Also according to the terms, they must be kept as 'open spaces'...for now anyway.
Some of these transfers are currently ongoing but, with Carmarthenshire Council in charge, questionable land valuations and wrangles and mysteries over of land ownership mean lengthy, complex procedures. We also have the recent, less than savoury dealings over Parc Howard (also on the list) where the lease could have quietly passed to private hands, which hardly inspires confidence.
Even if transfers are successful in the short term, long term monitoring would be necessary to protect these public amenities, mostly children's playgrounds, for future generations. The attitude of the council seems to be that these are deadweight and best dumped elsewhere.
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Out of all the local council assets up for transfer its odd that council run car parks never feature on the lists. Far too lucrative of course yet this could be a viable option to fund the parks, playgrounds etc that town council are now having to run.
Then there's the unspent Section 106 money sitting in a pot in County Hall, at the last count, in 2013, this stood at £1.5m. This would buy a lot of swings.
Where local councils and clubs are unable to take over the responsibility and cost of these assets it is not clear what would happen, there appears to be a March 2017 deadline after which the land would, I suppose, be sold to the highest bidder.
With the chief executive currently 'incredibly excited' over the prospect of playing with millions of pounds of someone else's money to build yet another white elephant, your kids' park and the local rec is way down the list of priorities. I would suggest that those concerned about the future of their local open spaces, parks and playgrounds should respond to the notice (see below), or contact their local elected Members. If nothing else, any transfers need to be transparent and clear or local communities will be storing up trouble, and big bills, for years to come;
"Objections to the intended disposal must be made in writing and addressed to: Head of Corporate Property, Carmarthenshire County Council, Building 8, St David’s Park, Carmarthen, SA31 3HB by no later than 9th November 2015."
Day centres, luncheon clubs, public toilets (top secret) and sport grounds have either been offloaded or are in the process of being 'transferred' and now, an astonishing ninety-six parks and playgrounds are listed in a Public Notice as the council 'intends to dispose' of the rest of their open spaces.
According to the terms of the Asset Transfer, these open spaces will be transferred under long term leases so will, as the council will no doubt inform us, be kept in public ownership. Also according to the terms, they must be kept as 'open spaces'...for now anyway.
Some of these transfers are currently ongoing but, with Carmarthenshire Council in charge, questionable land valuations and wrangles and mysteries over of land ownership mean lengthy, complex procedures. We also have the recent, less than savoury dealings over Parc Howard (also on the list) where the lease could have quietly passed to private hands, which hardly inspires confidence.
Even if transfers are successful in the short term, long term monitoring would be necessary to protect these public amenities, mostly children's playgrounds, for future generations. The attitude of the council seems to be that these are deadweight and best dumped elsewhere.
Out of all the local council assets up for transfer its odd that council run car parks never feature on the lists. Far too lucrative of course yet this could be a viable option to fund the parks, playgrounds etc that town council are now having to run.
Then there's the unspent Section 106 money sitting in a pot in County Hall, at the last count, in 2013, this stood at £1.5m. This would buy a lot of swings.
Where local councils and clubs are unable to take over the responsibility and cost of these assets it is not clear what would happen, there appears to be a March 2017 deadline after which the land would, I suppose, be sold to the highest bidder.
With the chief executive currently 'incredibly excited' over the prospect of playing with millions of pounds of someone else's money to build yet another white elephant, your kids' park and the local rec is way down the list of priorities. I would suggest that those concerned about the future of their local open spaces, parks and playgrounds should respond to the notice (see below), or contact their local elected Members. If nothing else, any transfers need to be transparent and clear or local communities will be storing up trouble, and big bills, for years to come;
"Objections to the intended disposal must be made in writing and addressed to: Head of Corporate Property, Carmarthenshire County Council, Building 8, St David’s Park, Carmarthen, SA31 3HB by no later than 9th November 2015."
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| latest list of assets for 'intended disposal'; click to enlarge |