Never shy of an opportunity to use a charitable campaign as an opportunity for politicking, Stockport Lib Dems have jumped on Keep Britain Tidy’s eleventh annual ‘Love Parks Week’…to make claims about Labour’s role in funding renewal and upgrades to parks & play areas in Stockport.
CLAIM: Labour ‘taken credit’ for Lib Dem Parks funds
“The Lib Dem budget in 2016 set aside £430,000 to be invested in our parks and play spaces, for which Labour have since taken the credit.” (wernethlibdems on 13 July, 2017)
REALITY: Liberals confused on dates & sums; Labour clear up their Parks & Leisure neglect
We can find no reference to any such sums relating to ‘parks and play spaces’ in the 2016/17 Lib Dem budget for Stockport. There was £430,000 allocated for ‘leisure’ (see p70 and p101 of the budget papers here), but more on Leisure funding later…
However, when Labour took over the Council, there was £405,000 earmarked for Parks as part of Government Transition Fund monies– (outlined in the 2016/17 budget) accompanied by £303,000 for street cleaning and other projects. One of the Labour Executive’s first decisions was to funnel all this funding into local parks, green spaces and play areas (to £708,000-almost double). See our Press release on this here.
It therefore appears the Lib Dems are either confused on their figures, where funding was allocated….or are simply making it up as they go along.
….Which brings us back to the approach to Leisure finance taken by Stockport Lib Dems.
- When in control of the Council, the Liberal Democrats decided upkeep and maintenance of Stockport’s Leisure’s assets was no longer a Council responsibility.
- This meant Life Leisure -who look after Stockport’s Leisure facilities- had zero funding for asset maintenance; leading facilities to rot, Grand Central gym to go out of use, and the need for almost £5 million in leisure investment by Labour to clear up the mess.
So, while Liberal Democrats crow over ‘setting aside’ mysterious sums of cash for parks – Stockport Labour are getting on with the job of properly funding recreation, parks and Leisure across Stockport.
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Stockport Labour want to wish Keep Britain Tidy all the best with ‘Love Parks week’ –we’ll even provide you with a link where you can find out more about supporting the campaign; here.