Playscheme cancelled after lack of interest

Sep 5 2008 by Jo Henwood, Chester Chronicle

A CITY playscheme for the school holidays was scrapped due to lack of interest.

The Westminster Park scheme, run by Chester City Council, was due to take place from July 28- August 1 for children aged 8-16.

By the second day, the scheme was cancelled because no one had turned up.

Paul Makin, secretary of Friends of Westminster Park, first contacted the city council back in May to see if there would be any playschemes, but was told by e-mail that there were no plans for this summer as previous schemes were always run at a loss.

Paul persisted and eventually, after consultation between Eric Plenderleath, executive member for culture and community, and sports development officer Ian Tordoff, a scheme was arranged and leaflets distributed locally.

Mr Tordoff said: “We took on board Mr Makin’s comments and did some research to see if there was a gap in the market in that area.

“We ran summer camps every year from about 2001 in Christleton, Malpas, Northgate and Westminster Park but the low number of participants meant we were always having to underwrite the cost and we decided to stop them in 2006.”

Mr Tordoff admitted it was late in the day to launch the scheme and felt that the £1,600 spent on the printing of leaflets would have been better deployed elsewhere.

He added: “We can’t deliver schemes to every park and we encourage local groups and clubs to apply for grants. This is a much more cost effective way of running holiday schemes.”