Parks charity hindered by political turmoil

REVIEW INTO URBAN GREEN NEWCASTLE PUBLISHED AFTER CHARITY WAS STRIPPED OF CONTROLLING PARKS

- By DANIEL HOLLAND

POLITICAL turmoil in Newcastle and “overly optimistic” predictions contributed to the downfall of a charity created to run the city’s parks, a review has found. Urban Green Newcastle (UGN) was stripped of control of 33 parks and more than 60 allotments by Newcastle City Council earlier this year, amid concerns over its finances.

The trust was launched in 2019, hailed at the time as a visionary project which could protect Newcastle's green spaces at a time of swingeing budget cuts and ultimately save the city more than £110 million over the course of a 125-year lease. But responsibility for the parks has now returned to the city council, after it emerged that UGN was facing a multi-million pound deficit and could not realistically survive without the local authority's help.

A new evaluation of the charity, commissioned by UGN and the National Trust, has now concluded that a “cumulative effect of external shocks, operational challenges, lack of financial reserves, and the absence of contingency arrangements left UGN financially vulnerable.” The review, conducted by Fuel Research, found that due diligence conducted by the city council as it was considering setting up UGN was done “without external scrutiny, independent challenge or validation”.

It adds that the vast estate handed over to UGN in 2019 was “in a state of disrepair and required significant capital investment’ including to 11 derelict or at-risk buildings like the Fisherman’s Lodge and Banqueting Hall in Jesmond Dene, but that there had not been a comprehensive survey conducted to make clear the scale of the challenge.

Fuel’s evaluation describes how UGN’s financial model was “under significant pressure from the outset” - with the business case having overestimated its potential to generate commercial income and underestimated its costs, which ran £2.7 million higher than expected between 2019 and 2024.