A COMMUNITY group in Newport claims that the council is “sitting on” £335,000 given to them by developers for parks and leisure facilities in the Lliswerry ward.

Newport City Council has said that the funds have either already been spent in the ward or are “unspent but committed to be spent” in the area.

James Peterson, of Lliswerry Ward Matters, said that, according to information obtained via a Freedom of Information request, Newport City Council has secured more than £3.5m in the past seven years thanks to Section 106 agreements for developments within the ward.

“When there are developments in an area, the council can get in a Section 106 agreement with the developer to ‘compensate’ the area - that could be building new roads or schools, for example,” he said. “Lliswerry has had a lot of developments in the last few years, such as the Spytty Retail Park, so I was curious about how much money has the council received.”

He said the data shows that, of the £3.5m secured, £335,268 is allocated to be spent in parks and leisure facilities in the area.

Mr Peterson said: “It is a big sump of money

“I understand the council has to spend the money on what it says in the agreement for the planning permission and that, if they don’t spend the money, they have to give it back to the developer.”

Mr Peterson said that, according to the data, the council has secured £269,606 for the Lliswerry Recreation Ground, known locally as Black Ash Park, off Corporation Road.

“There is a planning permission from 2013 to build a mini-stadium with changing rooms in there,” he added. “They have also been given £27,412 for maintenance and play provision at Moorland Park and Broadmead Park.”

Mr Peterson said the main aim of Lliswerry Ward Matters is to hold the council to account.

“We are asking them why are they sitting on this money and not putting more facilities in the area?” he said. “The money is there, so the council is at fault for not using it.”

Mr Peterson continued: “A lot of residents complain to us saying we don’t have enough parks or facilities in Lliswerry.

“We don’t see any progress in the area, there are no new parks - all we see is houses going up. There are no new built that correlate with the obligations.”

A spokeswoman for Newport City Council said that the funds have either already been spent in the Lliswerry ward or are “unspent but committed to be spent” in the ward.

To find out more about Lliswerry Ward Matters, visit their Facebook page on facebook.com/lliswerrywardmatters