Play in the Parks
Play in the Parks

A report has revealed that the cost of running Play in the Parks in Burntwood rose by £2,000 in 2019.

Play in the Parks
Play in the Parks

The annual scheme sees activities take place in parks across the town during the school holidays.

Funding is provided by the council, with the scheme previously costing between £2,000 and £3,000 a year to run.

But the 2019 event saw costs increase after the council brought in an outside organisation to help run it.

A report from town clerk Graham Hunt to a meeting of the community and partnerships committee said: “The net to cost to the town council for Play in the Parks 2019 is just over £5,000 after a £500 grant from the Lichfield Safer Communities Partnership Small Projects Fund.

“This is approximately £2,000 more than the previous year due to the commissioning of an events management company.

“This was felt necessary to free up town council staff and address health and safety concerns.

“The extra cost can be covered from within the approved budget.”

Play in the Parks began in 2005 and saw eight events take place in 2019.

Mr Hunt’s report continued: “This year’s events have been very well attended by local people and are clearly valued by them.

“The role of partners is becoming important as the resources of the town council have become stretched.

“The combination of staff holidays, sickness and other commitments has made for a challenging summer for the town council. However, the appointment of an events management company ensured that these events ran smoothly and any risks were managed.”

The report will be heard at a meeting of the committee on 16th September.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Liz Bacon
4 years ago

The play in the parks is a fabulous idea and family’s of all ages love to come to these free events and it is a great way for people to enjoy being together with their families with out spending a fortune as iin the summer holidays everything seems so expensive, it is also a great way to showcase what the volunteers and partners of community projects in the area or wider area do all year round such as Sparks, FunClubHub and the Church’s, , NCS and many more do for the Community . This is a well worth event and should continue for many more years .