A solicitor is to be appointed by Threlkeld Parish Council to determine whether a piece of land in the village belongs with the play area.
The Threlkeld Toddlers’ Association (TTA) is behind plans to upgrade the village play area and Barbara Lowesmith updated councillors at the January meeting on how the project, estimated to cost between £50,000 and £60,000, was progressing.
She said that the TTA had managed to locate papers in the archives that confirm that in 1896 the land was put in trust for the purposes of a play area and in 1904 it passed to Threlkeld Parish Council.
In 1989 Eden District Council erected a play area and agreed a contract with Threlkeld Parish Council to install, insure and maintain it on the land with the equipment being owned by local authority.
In 2021 the remainder of the land, known as Jobby Field, was registered to the parish council, and Ms Lowesmith said that in the opinion of the TTA it was an error that the play area land was not included.
It was agreed that a solicitor be appointed to submit a legal request to the Land Registry to revise the title of the Jobby Field to include the play area land.
The meeting heard that Eden District Council had agreed to own, maintain and insure the current equipment until April 1 when this agreement will switch to the new Westmorland and Furness authority.
It is not clear if the new authority will continue with this arrangement in the future. But the TTA believes it would be better for the parish council to go forward with new equipment.
Ms Lowesmith said the TTA would like to work with the parish council to identify funders and fill out forms and added that the council would have to purchase and own the equipment in order to reclaim the VAT.
It was agreed that a parish councillor be seconded to the TTA to take the project further.
The TTA has already identified several funds that are potentially viable for the project and these include the National Lottery, Hadfield Trust, Cumbria Community Foundation, Towngate Trust and Threlkeld Activities Association.
The parish council also agreed to take forward the preparation and submission of grant applications for the purchase of new play area equipment.
