Last updated 13:28, Thursday, 03 July 2008

NO ONE person should be made a “scapegoat” over the blunder surrounding Corbridge Skateboard Park, Tynedale Council’s chief executive has said.

Richard Robson and the district council’s solicitor, Peter Bracken, attended a meeting of Corbridge Parish Council last week and faced probing questions from members of the public over how the saga has been handled and why is was allowed to happen.

Earlier this year it was discovered that construction of the eagerly awaited skateboard park had begun on the wrong allotment site in Corbridge near Bridge End car park.

An independent investigation by Tynedale Council, commissioned by Corbridge Parish Council, has since been carried out.

The report found that no written agreements had been entered into between the parish council and engineering firm Crawford Higgins Associates, and that a number of issues were simply agreed verbally.

It cited a lack of clear communication and clarity as the overriding reason for the mistake and said that best practice was not followed at all times.

St Helen’s Street resident Audrey Graham asked Mr Robson whether the money paid out for the skateboard park to date – totalling at least £30,000 – had simply been squandered and whether there had been any attempts to cover up the mistake.

Mr Robson said: “Cover-up and squandered is very emotive language which I feel is inappropriate. There seems to be a temptation to try to find a scapegoat or to put someone’s head on a pike.

“The fact is we can’t go back in time and decide what did and did not happen. We now have to learn from this investigation, which has been accepted as a fair assessment by all parties involved, and the emphasis should be on moving forward.”

The meeting heard that a topographical survey had been carried out by Crawford Higgins based on the site it believed had been identified during a site meeting with representatives of the parish council.

However, Mr Robson said there was no written correspondence to back up what was discussed at the site meeting and both parties had different interpretations of events.

Residents called for disciplinary action due to the lack of written correspondence and formal arrangements put in place by the parish council when dealing with a project of this size.

Chairman of the parish council, Coun. Bill Grigg, told the meeting that he had been shocked by the lack of documentation kept by the parish council during the entire planning process of the skateboard park and said the issue was going to be dealt with internally by the council.

In an effort to prevent the same mistakes being repeated in future, councillors agreed to form a working group of members who would investigate the issues raised by the report and review every formal procedure the council has in place.