BCP parks and open spaces agreements ‘in need of overhaul’

Discussions over the historic agreements revealed members of the Bournemouth Lower Gardens committee 'could not recall when they last met'.

Unravelling some of the arrangements will get underway in the New Year.

BCP councillors have been told many of the historic agreements for governance are different for each area and may be in need of an overhaul.

In some cases trustee boards have not met for some time and the original arrangements for others are still in the council records of previous authorities.

Vice chair of the audit and governance committee Cllr Lawrence Williams told a meeting on Thursday evening he was a trustee of the Bournemouth Lower Gardens but could not recall when they last met.

“I don’t think there is any excuse for that, we could have met virtually and there are a number of things which have happened in the Lower Gardens we ought to have been told about,” he said.

His comments led to an apology from council officers. Interim environment director Kate Langdown said the only excuse she could offer was that the past two years had been “an exceptional period with competing demands.”

Councillors were warned that in some cases it might be possible, although unlikely, for trustees to make changes to the operation of parks or open spaces even though the land is owned by the council.

Cllr Anne Filer said it had been an eye-opener to realise how many different set ups there were, some going back more than a hundred years.

“It’s arcane and it’s not something people will understand… we need a degree of consistency,” she said, warning that if the council was not represented on all trustee boards, decisions could be taken which the authority did not agree with: “How else could you stop these boards deciding to dig an area up and turn them into allotments?” she said.

Some of the land which make up the parks and open spaces are in different ownerships – most have boards of trustees, although in some there is a lack of clarity about how they are appointed, or removed. Some of the boards have council officers as trustees while on others the council is represented by councillors. At least one, Five Parks, has no board at all.

In other areas, such as the Stour Valley Partnership, the council has taken the lead although is only a minor landowner. Councillors were told that it may be appropriate for another body to lead the partnership with a consultation currently underway to decide that.

Committee chairman Cllr John Beasley said there was no criticism of the way parks and open spaces were physically managed, which was widely accepted to be excellent, but the governance arrangements needed to be sorted out as quickly as possible.

A legal review of governance arrangements of all of the parks and open spaces arrangements is expected to be undertaken by external solicitors in the New Year.