“The left hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,” a councillor has said amid contradictory official reports into the future of a Kirklees park.
Mirfield Tory, Clr Martyn Bolt has reacted to news that an expensive Kirklees report into sports grounds is at odds with the council’s recent grass mowing changes.
The Examiner highlighted the issue to Clr Bolt after a new sports pitch strategy revealed Knowl Park in Mirfield should be used for football games.
The recommendation comes just a few months after the council designated as an area to be left wild.
The rear of the park, where football was played, was categorised as “natural” while the fore of the park was designated as “silver” to receive 14 cuts per year.
READ MORE:Kirklees grass mowing decisions not for top councillors says leader
The move angered the community, who organised their own community mow last July in response to the change.
Now Kirklees Playing Pitch Strategy, set to be considered by Kirklees cabinet on November 17, has recommended the rear of the park is needed for football as there is a shortage of pitches in the area.
At a Kirklees Counci meeting, Clr Bolt challenged the cabinet member responsible for parks, Clr Steve Hall, if he had known of the conflicting recommendations for parks such as Knowl Park.
Clr Hall confirmed he did not.
“Once again I’m shocked by the response of a cabinet member,” said Clr Bolt at the Huddersfield Town Hall meeting.
Speaking to the Examiner following the meeting, Clr Bolt said: “The playing pitch report was commissioned in 2014 so the cabinet must have been aware of it.
“Then they all voted for the grass cutting changes.
“There seems to me to be a lack of ability. We need to know if that information was given and the cabinet just carried on regardless.
“If we stop cutting the grass now we’re going to have to spend much more to bring it back up to a decent standard for playing on.”
The pitch has not been marked out this year but was used a few years ago.
It is currently overgrown following the “Mirfield Mow”.
The row over what grassy areas get cut is ongoing but Kirklees Council’s cabinet said it would leave it up to officials in the parks department to decide in co-operation with ward councillors.
