THE council has been accused of re-announcing funding for improvements to the city’s parks and play areas.

A Labour councillor said the announcement of £400,000 for refurbishment work is “blatant electioneering”, claiming some of the funding had already been committed in previous years but had not yet been spent.

City of York Council said last week £400,000 will be spent on improvements to 14 parks as part of the scheme, with £170,000 from council funding and the rest of the money coming from parishes, wards and communities.

Cllr Keith Myers, executive member for children’s services, said: “This is the biggest investment we’ve made to our play areas for some years. In addition to the council’s investment, we are also working closely with the community to introduce some really exciting new play equipment for children, as well as improving general maintenance of parks and play areas across the city.”

But Labour's Cllr Jonny Crawshaw said funding had been previously agreed for schemes but work had often been delayed for years.

He said: “I welcome improvements to the city’s parks and play areas, but sadly the £400,000 figure announced by the joint Tory-Lib Dem administration includes much double-announcing of spending, some of which was committed in previous financial years.

“It is extremely disappointing to see the official council’s communications function being used for such blatant electioneering by a Tory-Lib Dem Coalition responsible for a ward funding system that is broken and not working in the interests of residents.”

A City of York Council spokesman said: “We are drawing resident’s attention to the works taking place in play parks across the city. As these works have only just started on the play parks it’s important residents know what’s going on when they visit them with their families.”

Scarcroft Green is due to be resurfaced and new play equipment is set to be installed at Clarence Gardens, with work already carried out at Rowntree and West Bank Parks.