COUNCILLORS in Haltwhistle could be prepared to risk losing a £21,000 nest egg.

Haltwhistle Town Council was awarded the cash five years ago to create a skateboard park for local youngsters.

Northumberland County Council, which set-aside the capital from section 106 agreements associated with housing developments, said that the cash must be spent by July 2017.

But the skateboard park scheme has failed to get off the ground, as it has not been possible to find a suitable location.

Councillors would like to scrap the scheme, and instead use the funding for other projects, with improvements to existing play areas top of their priority list.

However, the local authority has already told the town council that the section 106 cash cannot simply be transferred to another scheme.

If it is not spent as originally intended, the money will have to go back into a central pot for Haltwhistle and the surrounding areas, and the town council would then have to make a new application.

Chairing a town council meeting on October 3, Coun. Alan Sharp said: “I would like to put the section 106 money into the play parks, but obviously if we do this it has to go back to the county council.

“We may as well return it to the county council and see if we can get it back for this separate scheme.”

Coun. Michael Ridley told fellow members that there have been problems with drainage at the Comb Hill play area.

The town council is keen to bring in drainage specialists to explore the site before improvements to the play park itself can begin.

And Coun. Sharp concluded: “Before we get anything started there we have to get the drainage right.”

Councillors are also working on a scheme to improve the offering for youngsters at the town’s Westlands play area, which has capacity for expansion.

Coun. Jeanette Kendrew said a consultation will soon get under way, in which children and teenagers will be asked to contribute ideas for new equipment.

Coun. Kendrew said: “There is a lot of potential there and whatever we decide to do, we want to make it appeal to the young people who use it.”