Transfer of council assets to Harpenden Town Council

Harpenden's Batford Springs nature reserve, Lyddekker Park and other assets are to be transferred by St Albans City and District Council to Harpenden Town Council subject to final contractual details being agreed.

At a meeting on Thursday, 19th January 2012, the District Council's Cabinet agreed to transfer the ownership and management of the following assets to Harpenden Town Council:

 

•    Batford Springs Local Nature Reserve

•    Porters Hill Park, off Pickford Hill, Batford

•    Park Hall Community Hall in Leyton Road, Harpenden

•    Lydekker Park and car park, Harpenden (subject to agreement of terms).

 

The move follows a request by Harpenden Town Council to transfer the four assets listed above as well as Westfield Recreation Ground, which Cabinet agreed to in July last year. Most of the assets are already managed, but not owned by the Town Council.

 

The District Council has been encouraging the Town and Parish Councils to take on the ownership as well as management of local assets as part of a strategy to put localism into practice.

 

Councillor Beric Read, Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Localism at St Albans Council, said, "Localism and devolution is a key priority for the Council.  A number of Parish Councils have also come forward encouraged by the Council's discussions with Harpenden Town Council about the transfer of assets. The aim is that assets will be owned and managed by the local communities that use them."