Eatburn playing fields (From Keighley News)

Eatburn playing fields

12:10pm Thursday 13th August 2009

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Just as the Eastburn playing fields project looked like it was taking off, a letter from the Government could have dealt it a devastating blow.

For the last two years the parish council has worked with Bradford Comm-unity Environments Project (BCEP) to design and source funding for an activity park for young people on the playing fields.

Providing recreation for the villages’ youth is one of the council’s major challenges and has been laid out as a priority in its forward looking document the Parish Plan.

At last week’s meeting clerk Cheryl Brown announced — to councillors’ joy — that £55,000 in funding for the £150,000 project had been secured for the play equipment, from a Play Builder fund A second application to try to secure the rest of the funding for the much-anticipated park was ready to be sent off to Yorventure, when a letter from HM Customs and Exercise arrived threatening to jeopardise the progress.

Mrs Brown said: “There have been new guidelines issued to town and parish councils about reclaiming VAT on sports fields and it is not clear if we will be able to claim back the VAT on our playground, which will make a significant difference to our costings.

“If we couldn’t claim back the VAT as we have budgeted, it would increase our costings by £22,500 which is a huge amount. It all hinges around who owns the land and while we are the corporate trustee of the land, we do not own it.”

The council agreed to write to the government body for clarification about the rule and a decision on whether it would be able to claim back the VAT. In the meantime, the council decided to continue with the plans and apply for more funding.

Mrs Brown said that if “the worst came to the worst” the scheme would have to be reduced to account for the extra cost.

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