The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The majority of people at a Surfleet public meeting voted to add £12 a year to their Council Tax bill to support Glen Park.
More than 100 people attended the meeting and now the charity SPARC which owns the facility says it expects the parish council to abide by the vote taken.
A spokesman for SPARC said the parish precept (the amount parishes add to the annual bill total) currently stood at 20p – significantly lower than many other villages.
“It was made clear that all the money from the parish precept would be ring-fenced for the upkeep of the park through the Glen Park Community Interest Company (CIC), while money spent on maintenance and the eventual replacement of the heavily-used astroturf pitch would be met from fees paid by the 34 hockey and football teams who play there,” he said.
Villagers were asked to attend last Thursday’s public meeting to support the venue.
“Work on developing the park was started 20 years ago by a small group of volunteers who have managed and maintained it ever since entirely through their own efforts – a total of £1.7m to date,” said a letter sent by the organisers.
Voting forms are still being returned, but a SPARC spokesman said the present count stood at 87 in favour of the rise and nine against – a clear majority.
He said the charity had been asking the parish council to hold a public meeting two years ago and believed the legal requirements to increase the parish precept by more than ten per cent had been met and the council should take note of what happened.
“Residents will have the chance to put their names forward at a meeting to elect a new board of directors for the CIC at a meeting before the parish council’s budget setting on November 21,” he said.
