Council charges for use of public parks

[AndrewW-G]

I wonder . . . . If your family had donated a park to the local community / council, would they now be able to charge you for access to it?

[skwdenyer]

Oakey said:

Ratepayers have already paid for use of the park, whether they choose to do so with a PT or on their own is irrelevent. It's not like you get a rebate for not using the park, is it?

Indeed. When all is said and done, none of the examples offered so far are likely to try to make a council-managed park their permanent home, not least because the weather is rather variable. During "working hours", parks are seldom used all that much. This seems like regulation for the sake of it.

If, on the other hand, the council wants to introduce a simple licensing system, ensuring that those using the park for commercial purposes (beyond the trivial stuff, like taking your laptop into the park on a sunny day) have appropriate public liability insurance, charging, say, £20 per year for checking the documents, and providing a badge to be worn to show compliance, I have no problem. But "wear and tear of a park"? This is outright nonsense!

[crankedup]

OK lets try this out for size, the local Council is strapped for cash, so lets off load the local amenities into the private sector on a lease basis. Private sector runs the site(s) as contract and gets to pocket the incomes whilst paying out for upkeep to contract standards. Be interesting to see how the private sector would grapple with this debate subject.