Framwellgate Moor Parish Council provides a bowling green for residents to use. This will cost in the region of £8000 this financial year. It has cost more and less in previous years but overall this is still quite a substantial sum and may be an under estimate of the overall costs.
The Parish Council receives about £42000 from residents through the council tax so that works out at about 20% of the money the council gets being spent on the bowling club.
There are around 35 members of the bowling club at any one time with less than a dozen of these members living in the parish council area. The parish council area has a population of more than 10,000 including under 18’s.
Of course residents can go along and use the bowling facilities for upto 20 hours in any week should they chose, but the reality is that few do. This in effect means that one fifth of all the parish money is being spent for the benefit of one tenth of one percent (0.0012%) of residents.
I recognise the need for such facilities and would urge people to join the club and use the facility – it really is very good. However, the parish charges NOTHING for use of the green to club members.
The club members promise that they will be there a minimum of 20 hours a week for any residents to be able to access the site, however in fairness there is likely to be someone there at least 20 hours every week because club members are playing or practising anyway.
In recent years the bowling club did manage to bring in funding after applying for grants towards buying some equipment from other sources and have contributed to various improvements to the pavilion and to equipment.
However. I personally believe that there should be a contribution towards the costs the Parish must bear for this facility from those who use it.
To provide an example of why:
If I want to join a local gym I will have to pay £200-400 a year for one person.
If I wanted to join Chester-le-Street Golf Club, a years membership for ONE person is £630.
To go to the cinema once a week would set me back a minimum of £200 a year – and that is if I go on the cheapest day, it is more likely to cost £400.
All of these figures are PER PERSON.
On Wednesday night for the third or fourth time in the last few years I brought this issue up and there was a frank discussion about it. On the one side members of the club outlined the money that they had raised in grants for equipment and other such items. On the other side I pointed out the huge cost to the parish council of the facility. UPTO £8000 a year, maybe more.
I do not want to see the facility closed or scrapped. But I did think that a £600 charge to THE CLUB (not per person) in line with the charge the County Council makes to every other bowling club in the county under County Council control was fair.
Some people would think I was suggesting the end of the world to ask someone to pay less than £20 towards their main leisure facility for an entire year!
No one else on the parish council supported me. Perhaps I am wrong in having this view? But I leave you with this thought……each year two or three football clubs use the football pitches at King George’s Field – the same location as the bowling green.
Many of the members of these teams live in the parish council area.
Of course you are thinking “Great!!” the parish are promoting sport and active lifestyles.
Yes they are – but they are charging each team over £300 for using the pitch.
So when I asked if the Parish Council would cut the charges for the footballers (many of them young people), you’d think because of fairness and equality with the bowling club the answer would be yes. In fact in recent years the parish has increased the charges.
Something seems inherently unfair in all of this to me – but perhaps I’m wrong?