Paths project hangs in balance

Published on 12th October 2006 in News

Cllrs Jean Kitchen and Eric Raddings examine the site

A new pathway system intended to make two nature areas on the edge of Goole more accessible to families with prams and especially to disabled visitors is facing uncertainty this week.

A letter from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's commuted sums officer was sent to Goole Town Council recently and at their meeting on Monday some councillors expressed their concern that the letter stated that Goole Town Council had agreed to give £13,000 to the pathways project when in fact their contribution had not yet been agreed.

The project, entitled Access for All, is a joint one between the East Riding Council, Hook Parish Council and Goole Town Council. It aims to improve pathways on Mayfield and Broompark. Improvements are planned from Garth Lane in Hook, along the footpath to Springbalk Lane then right to the football field and left along Springbalk Lane to the cattle arch; also along Long Lane to Thorntree Lane.

The letter which enraged some councillors stated that the ERYC was to give £33,000 to the project, £2,000 would come from Hook Parish Council, and that Goole Town Council had agreed to use £13,000 of 'commuted sums' which had come from the Peter Ward development on Rawcliffe Road.

Commuted sums are given to a council when new housing developments do not include youth facilities. All new developments are expected to create some kind of green space or play area for children and young people. When they do not provide these facilities, developers give the ERYC money, known as a commuted sum. This money is to be spent creating facilities for young people within a five-mile radius of the development which created the money.

Without the additional funding from Goole and Hook councils the Access for All project will not go ahead and the £33,000 from the East Riding Council could be lost and used for a project out of the area.

At Monday's meeting Cllr Shirley Marshall told fellow councillors that Gole Town Council had never agreed to use these commuted sums entirely on the pathways and that the need for a BMX track at West Park had also been discussed. She said that the East Riding letter had "really got people's backs up".

Cllr Pat O'Neil said: "People are happy with the paths they've got. They don't want these paths. Some residents in the area are worried that these paths will make their homes more accessible to burglars."

Cllr Eric Raddings, who along with Cllr Jean Kitchen had originally submitted this community project for Goole North Ward, said that the improved pathways would kick-start work on the two nature areas, which had stalled over the past three years.

Cllr Kitchen told fellow councillors that when the project was originally submitted she was told the cost would be £24,000 and that there was no mention of match-funding. Now, two years down the line she was amazed that the cost had doubled to £48,000.

However, Cllr Kitchen said she was by then aware that £26,325 was due to ERYC in commuted sums from Peter Ward Homes for their Rawcliffe Road development. Not wanting to lose out on the £33,000, she made inquiries and was informed that this was an excellent project for the use of commuted sums.

Cllr Kitchen added that the £26,325 was also sufficient to cover the BMX track extension which had also been proposed and that other commuted sums would soon be available.

She said that Hook Parish Council had originally agreed their £2,000 contribution to the project but were very annoyed by comments made by Goole Town Council Labour members. Unless Goole Town Council could agree their contribution of £13,000, the £33,000 from the ERYC could be lost.

When questions were raised on who decided the amounts of funding required, councillors were told that the figures for matched-funding contributions were proposed by the East Riding's chief executive and Conservative and Labour group leaders and agreed by the ERYC Cabinet.

After a lengthy discussion councillors unanimously agreed to invite two officers from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to a future meeting so that the latest situation on the pathways project could fully be explained.