Earby Memorial Park (Sough Park)
18th of November, 2024
A number of years ago responsibility for the Park was transferred from Pendle Borough Council to Earby Town Council and Kelbrook and Sough Parish Council.
The front of the park with the cenotaph and the bowling club is in Sough, the rear after the beck is in Earby, this includes the playground, skate park and tennis courts.
The two bodies have paid for the upkeep of the Park since then. Earby paying upwards of £17000 and Kelbrook and Sough £5000 plus, this is based on the amount of precept* received by each body. This year Earby decided to stop contributing to the park and redirect the money into other projects.
The bowling club have started to manage their area themselves with some support from Pendle and Kelbrook Phoenix football club manage the pitch.
We have had two meetings to discuss the future of the park. We have a fully costed plan with three options of differing amounts. The spreadsheet with this information is on Kelbrook and Sough Parish Council website https://www.kelbrookandsough-pc.gov.uk. The worst case scenario is that the park is closed permanently. This is something we really want to avoid. In addition to the lack of funding is the increase in vandalism.
There are some ideas to try to mitigate the problems we face, locking the park at night is one, this has understandably been met with some resistance. We could look for sponsorship to cover the cost of the flowers around the cenotaph. A team of volunteers could do some of the work, reducing the cost. But what we really need is more ideas and commitment from the Community, can you help?
*A precept is a tax that a parish council charges its local residents to help fund its budget.