The York council has announced how it intends to spend nearly £365,000 of public money. The fund has accrued from Section 106 payments. These are payments are made by land owners who are unable – or unwilling – to provide open space, play or sports facilities on new developments.

In the main they are intended to boost the quality – and sometimes quantity – of publicly available open space and leisure facilities in a neighbourhood.

A meeting next week will decide how to allocate the funding that has accumulated over recent years.

Other schemes in the pipeline could add another £800,000 to the total mainly arising from major developments in the Guildhall, Fishergate and Clifton parts of the City.

Unfortunately, as is the developing trend with the present Council, no public consultation on local priorities has taken place.

Some of the money is being used to boost facilities at private membership clubs. In the past any such contribution would have been conditional on the asset being made available for public access.

There are some glaring omissions from the list. In Westfield the Cornlands Road Park misses out again with no sign of any progress on securing the area much less improving the basic play facilities which exist there.

Improvements to Acomb Green and conservation works on Bachelor Hill are welcome initiatives though.