Council cash spent wrongly

Last May I wrote about the need to make security the first priority before committing large sums to improvements in parks. There were other correspondents with similar reservations about this issue.Since then, there has been plenty more money earmarked to making facilities better. One such sum was the spending of £4,000 on repainting a Victorian drinking fountain - although it was not actually made to work.

Enormous amounts have been allocated - the last I read of was more than £200,000 to be spent on one play area.

Recently there was the front page news that there is a multi-million plan to build an ice rink in the Arboretum. This may be money given to Walsall but we would still have to maintain this facility which could be difficult given the council's financial weakness.

Below this headline, there was an article saying Walsall couldn't afford £8,000 for the Walsall in Bloom scheme. The council is already embarking on massively ambitious development schemes, such as the new ring road and the Waterfront. Jobs are on the line, council tax will rise four per cent and apparently the council needs to save £3.6 million. Walsall Council ran into dire trouble in the 1970s with overspending and there are lessons to be learned there.

Judging by the newspaper articles I've read, money has come from outside sources like lottery grants or European funding, presumably for deprived areas like Walsall. It seemed a relief when the Art Gallery was working out so much better than the "pink elephant" fiasco in Sandwell. I never liked Walsall's design but it won prizes and it was free. It wasn't, though, because we have to pay for its maintenance and this will be an enormous sum. The designers couldn't have considered maintenance costs important.

I'm delighted Walsall is becoming more open in its activities and is seeking our views, but there is plenty to be concerned about. There are no free lunches and if facilities cannot be safeguarded, improvements made and quickly lost will reduce morale and civic pride, not increase it. We cannot afford to replace £200,000 play areas and no sane insurance company would cover them.

The council is employing "communication and reassurance officers" to tell us that crime is falling and they will be paid £23,000 a year. Thank goodness for the Express & Star which has just published some figures on crime in our local parks.

Barry Denny, Longwood Rise, Willenhall.