Labour U turn on their Parks Tax gaffe

Unbelievable news from Newcastle City Council followed by U turn: Parks to be put into a charity and local residents could be charged extra tax!

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/…/newcastle-parks-handed-cha…

Quoting the Labour cabinet member, Kim McGuinness, the article states:

"Setting out options for increasing funding, she wrote: "Residents who live close to well maintained parks benefit from quality green space on their doorstep and increased property prices. A local tax could be targeted at these beneficiaries and the income earmarked to local parks to fund maintenance.""

In other words all those local people who for example live near Gosforth Central Park could now have bigger council tax because it is so nice.

Yet it was due to the council removing support from the park that led to the setting up of groups like the Friends of Gosforth Central Park.

So will we have a situation where local volunteers who give up their free time to keep their park well maintained will be penalised because their park is well maintained?

When they realised what the responsible Cabinet Member had revealed, there was suddenly a "clarification" issued - which claimed it hadn't been Newcastle's idea at all, despite the direct quotation above!

See the turnaround here :

https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/news-story/statement-clarifying-incorrect-parks-tax-reports