Carmarthenshire county council has declined to say which parks and play areas are under threat of closure in Llanelli
At Llanelli Town Council, questions were asked of Executive Board member for transport Colin Evans and Head of Corporate Property, Jonathan Fearne about the parks’ future.
The County Council is looking to offload the operation of some parks and play areas to community and town councils in Carmarthenshire as a means of saving money.
Over the past three years, Carmarthenshire Council has saved £44m by slashing non-statutory services, including parks and play areas.
The Herald understands that the County Council is targeting seven parks in Llanelli, including Parc Howard and People’s Park.
Cllr Carl Lucas said he would like to have a ‘definitive list’ of which could close if Llanelli Town Council did not step in.
He said: “We can’t consider anything until we know the full facts.”
But, refusing to give any information, Carmarthenshire Council’s executive member for Technical Services, Colin Evans, said the areas were ‘not statutory’.
Mr Evans told Llanelli councillors that the County Council would not provide information because it did not have to: “We don’t have to provide them, but if you ask the public what they want us to keep they are right up there.”
He continued to invite town councillors to play a guessing game: “We can’t say we will close anything yet until we’ve had expressions of interest. If town or community councils don’t want to take over we offer them to public groups and if they say no then only at that point do we make a decision what we can and can’t afford to maintain.”
However, Head of corporate property Jonathan Fearne said that there has been interest in the facilities from several town and community councils across the county as well as some sporting consortiums such as Kidwelly.
Under the Asset Transfer groups taking over a park or pitch may receive a grant for the first two years and an improvement grant of £10,000 to attract match funding.
Town councillor Bill Thomas reminded the meeting that he has provided a ‘first class football stadium’ at Stebonheath and indoor bowls at the Selwyn Samuel Centre.
He said: “If we took them all on it would put the precept up 50 per cent so we have to look carefully.”
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