DEVELOPERS should be helping improve areas in which their developments are built, Labour councillor Pat Ryan has said this week.
He wants the council to upgrade run down sports facilities in Upper Norwood Recreation Ground but accepts the authority is strapped for cash.
Cllr Ryan said he believed that money donated by developers as part of planning gain from developments should be ploughed directly into their locality and not used for general improvements.
He said that would enable local priorities to be set to help local residents, citing as an example the tennis and basketball courts in the recreation ground off Chevening Road, which need resurfacing, while nets and fences also need repairing.
Cllr Ryan said: "This is not down to vandalism, the problems have all occurred through age.
"We lack sports facilities in the area and the council needs to show it is interested in supporting young people."
"If it could not afford to pay, it should be urging developers, who benefited from coming into the area to provide specific financial support."
Councillor Jason Perry, the council's cabinet member for planning, regeneration and transport, said under previous Section 106 planning gain contracts, money from developers was channelled into specific projects such as improving transport, and not necessarily local areas.
