Frodsham Town Council has reluctantly agreed to spend £250 to reopen a controversial play area - but is willing to part with up to £1,000 to prove it has properly handled the affair.
The council decided to bring in an independent investigator at its monthly meeting, following claims by a spokesperson for the play area on Park Lane that it had removed minutes from its website and failed to deliver letters informing residents of the recreation ground’s closure.
Chairman of Frodsham Town Council Mark Warren said: “There have been comments and rumours and half-truths and complete mistruths circulating around the community for months and I just want to put an end to it in one fell swoop.”
Cllr Warren said he was ‘loathe to spend another dime on this play area to prove we have done everything right and gone about this in the right way’.
The council has set a cap of £1,000 for the cost of the probe, which will be carried out by an independent investigation unit from either Cheshire West and Chester Council or Cheshire Association of Local Councils.
Regarding the issue of whether or not the notification letters were sent to residents, he said: “No amount of money spent on an investigation is going to resolve that. It’s one person’s word against another’s.
“It might be worth noting that the permanent closure of Park Lane was discussed in the FTC newsletter in Frodsham Life in November 2012, and the closure highlighted in the March 2013 edition, so mail drop wasn't the only means of announcement.”
However, Cllr Warren added that the money they’ll be spending ‘will be worth it’ so the council can say it has done the right thing for the community, and that there may be things they can take away from the investigation, such as using a registered delivery service for consultations in the future.
Town Champion and former Frodsham Town Council clerk Kate Dodgson said: “Unfortunately, a small number of individuals choose to ignore the minutes and the facts and instead spread misinformation and rumours, seemingly with the intent of discrediting individuals and organisations and causing distress and upset to other residents.
“An independent investigation should not be necessary given the availability of minutes, however an investigation will hopefully clarify the situation and deter further false accusations.”
Chairman of Friends of Fountain Lane Play Area John Williamson said: “Spending money on an investigation tells me that the council are worried that they are not doing things right, because if they were, they would not have concerns.”
