Concern is growing that a £20,000 grant which plays a key role in funding the upkeep of Keswick’s Fitz Park every year is to be stopped.
Allerdale Borough Council has paid the sum annually for the last seven years to the Fitz Park Trust – the charity responsible for maintaining the public facility, which is home to several sports clubs and other well-used leisure facilities.
There is some confusion now though over whether the money is part of a signed grant agreement, which the council is bound to pay the trust each April, or whether it is a discretionary grant which could be cancelled.
Councillor Sally Lansbury, who is both a park trustee and an Allerdale councillor, said she believed the £20,000 was meant to be a continuous contribution to the park’s maintenance cost.
She said the park was in Allerdale and was used extensively by people from all over the borough when visiting Keswick.
“It is not a grant we have to ask for each year,” she said Cllr at a recent parks trust Zoom meeting.
She said Allerdale was contributing towards the upkeep of parks in both Cockermouth and Workington and should continue to do so in Keswick.
Coun David Burn said he believed the grant was to be paid “in perpetuity” and that he had seen a letter signed by a previous chief executive of Allerdale saying so.
However, town clerk Lynda Walker said the park trust’s income was £20,000 down this financial year because the sum had not been paid.
She said the trust was unlikely to receive the money until both parties had agreed over the issue.
“We do need that money,” said trust chairman Adam Paxon.
Keswick’s three Allerdale councillors – Mrs Lansbury, Markus Campbell-Savours and Allan Daniels – are all parks trustees and they were asked to lobby the borough council to continue paying the money every year.
