There is more to the Wyre Hill Playground funding debacle than meets the eye. Health Concern and the Tories are almost neck-a-neck in running Bewdley Town Council, but Health Concern have the edge. So, the Bewdley West by-election in which the playground sits is a make or break issue for Health Concern and an opportunity for the Tories to teach these independent whippersnappers a lesson… as well as to tighten their grip on local politics.
Over the last year, Health Concern’s Town Councillors fell into a couple of traps in their budgeting. They got agreement that lighting the bridge was a good idea on the basis that a company had offered to do it for free. They also alienated the County youth services department in Worcestershire thinking their Lottery Grant was all they needed to build the Youth Café. Sadly, it appears they didn’t read the small print on the lighting contract offer and they didn’t account for the running costs of the café. So they’re asking for bids on a new lighting contract and have tried to offload youth project funding on other authorities.

The town council gets just 1 percent of its constituents’ council tax payments to spend, so it can‘t afford to make mistakes. However, if it takes the right approach, it can raise funding from other authorities. For instance, it‘s entitled to a grant from WFDC, which has to be spent according to Local Area Agreement Priorities and so is dependent on an itemised bid. Rather than take the diplomatic route to accessing these funds, the Health Concern councillors have tried to bludgeon Wyre Forest‘s Tories into taking responsibility for the playground and put in an un-itemised bid for over £11,000, excluding the playground costs, which they say WFDC should pick up.

Now perhaps they should. They run many of the other play areas but they were not asked first and have set their budgets, which are tightly controlled. So to teach Health Concern a lesson, WFDC’s Tory Cabinet, including Bewdley West Town Council By-Election candidate, Julian Phillips, (who claims to be the chief campaigner to save the playground) have voted to withhold the £11,000 grant until they change their attitude. Health Concern are therefore left swinging in the wind.

It’s a typical example of politics over practicality. We’re all in the same community but both sides have decided to go to war while the community suffers. Wyre Forest’s Tories are technically in the right but is this any way to run local government?

The only real losers in this are the children of Bewdley. They don’t care that the unnecessary by-election cost of about £2500 doesn’t come from the right budget to be spent on the playground. They don’t care who runs their playgrounds. They don’t need to know why Worcester County Council has set aside so little money for youth facilities. They don’t need to know that the all councils have agreed to provide more facilities for children to exercise in across Britain and that Bewdley is failing to meet that agreement. They just want the facilities that they’ve been promised to be provided.

Health Concern haven’t been too clever here. They look like the villains of the piece for apparently placing bridge lighting above children’s health – particularly as they hadn’t done a thing about the weeds infesting the bridge for over a year. One might also question the environmental impact of light pollution and carbon emissions if they do illuminate the bridge.

What really disappoints is that this relatively small issue is being used as a political football at the expense of Bewdley’s kids. The Tories are so determined to wield their might, they don’t care who suffers along the way. Health Concern’s shambolic Bewdley Town Council thought they could tinker with the rules to get around some iffy decision making and questionable budget management.  For the sake of about £3000 and a little co-operation from both sides, the children of Bewdley West could continue to enjoy a popular playground AND Bewdley could have it’s enhanced night-time appearance. But all this is lost in the mire of petty party politics.

Neville Farmer