Council takes back control of city's parks

A major shake-up of how city's parks are run has now come into effect.

Newcastle City Council has retaken control of dozens of parks and allotments which it had previously put in the hands of charity Urban Green Newcastle (UGN).

The U-turn follows major concerns about the finances of the charity that emerged over the past year.

But there remain big questions about the future of the city's green spaces.

UGN was given control of 33 parks and more than 60 allotments by Newcastle City Council in 2019.

Newcastle was the first major metropolitan area in the UK to hand over the management of its parks in this way.

The idea was that, after years of austerity-driven budget cuts, a charity would be better placed to protect the green spaces.

It was hoped UGN would save the city more than £110m over a 125-year lease.

The council agreed to provide subsidies worth £7.7m to help see the trust through its first 10 years of operation before it became self-sustaining.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in March 2024 that the charity had already burned through all the council subsidy it had been given and predicted a £6.7m shortfall up to 2029.

Bosses admitted the trust would ultimately be unable to survive unless the city council was willing to keep supporting it financially.

While the council agreed to award a further £1m to keep UGN going for the last 12 months, it also commissioned a review by Forvis Mazars.

That analysis concluded there was "no evidence to suggest that UGN will be able to operate without ongoing and substantial financial support from the council for the foreseeable future".

The council was given final approval that it would be retaking control over the parks in January.

In its most recent set of accounts, which detailed a £700,000 loss in 2023/24, UGN's board of trustees said the original business plan behind its creation was "fatally flawed".

One key factor was a dispute with the city council itself over the right to stage big music festivals in Exhibition Park, which had been seen as a key revenue stream.

That row in 2022, which followed complaints about noise from the This Is Tomorrow concerts, led to the council imposing strict limits on future events.

Vandalism and meeting health and safety regulations have also been cited as issues, along with a £900,000 drop in grants and donations last year.

But the main factor that has been blamed is the Covid-19 pandemic, which trustees said increased costs and "shifted focus" from finding new sources of income.

UGN chief executive Carol Pyrah praised the charity for upgrading tennis courts and improving football pitches at Walker Park and Paddy Freeman's Park, as well as its work on walking and cycling route.

It was lauded for launching events like the Northern Lights trail and for planting more than 12,000 trees.

However, it has also come in for plenty of criticism.

Having once aimed to secure Green Flag Awards for all 33 of Newcastle's parks by 2026, only Exhibition Park and Jesmond Dene currently hold that accolade.

UGN has also been accused of treating the 150-year-old Leazes Park as a "cash cow".

After a festival there last spring, damage caused included the knocking over of stone pillars at the Victorian park's entrance, which remain unfixed today.

From Saturday, management of the parks, more than 60 allotment sites and a similar number of associated buildings is the responsibility of the local authority.

Some 40 staff from Urban Green will be transferred across to the civic centre ahead of the charity being wound up.

Deputy council leader Alex Hay said on Friday that Newcastle "boasts some of the most beautiful green spaces in the country, and we are committed to helping them flourish".

Hay said the council would be "working with both residents and user groups to ensure these spaces thrive".

He added: "We welcome the staff from Urban Green Newcastle who have achieved some fantastic results over the last five years."

At the time of the original handover to Urban Green, the council had slashed its annual parks budget from £2.58m in 2010/11 to less than £1m.

Now it has said a minimum of £1.5m would be needed each year just to keep the parks at their current state.

There have been questions about how the council, which is poised to sign off on £21m spending cuts next week, will be able to find that money, particularly as it will not be able to access some grant funding in the same way a charity can.

Last month, Labour was accused of making a "rushed" decision and there were warnings against taking the "nuclear approach" of scrapping UGN entirely.

But the council leadership has insisted there is no better option and argued that, given it would still need to keep funnelling cash to Urban Green even if it was allowed to continue, it would be exposed to financial risks either way.

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