DARWEN’S Whitehall Park Supporters Group has changed its constitution to stop any influx of new and former members from taking over and possibly spending their funds unwisely.

The decision was announced at a meeting with those who had raised concerns about the state of the park.

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Vice-chairman Austin Molloy told an open meeting in Darwen Town Hall: “We are concerned.

“We want to ensure that our funds are safeguarded.”

Anyone wanting to join the group will not be allowed to do so until the annual meeting each year and then would have to wait a year before they could vote on anything, he explained. They would be allowed “a say”.

Blackburn with Darwen Council environment boss Cllr Jim Smith, who was chairing the meeting, said he had “never heard anything like it”.

He added that it felt undemocratic not to deny members a vote for a year.

Colin Briggs, of the Friends of Darwen Cemetery, said: “We welcome anyone. We don’t tell them they can’t vote.”

Margaret Bentley, a long-standing member of the Whitehall Park group, said: “I never know what is going on.

“If we had a few more meetings it would help.”

To which Mr Molloy replied: “Fair point.”

Whitehall councillor David Foster said there had been “a breakdown in confidence between the supporters’ group and the community”.

He added: “We need to move forward. It is almost as if they want to keep the community at arms length.”

Cllr Smith said council cuts had meant that little work could be done on the borough’s parks.

However, he said he wanted to see people “getting together and working together”.

Mr Molloy said his group had obtained funding and had spent many thousands of pounds on improving Whitehall Park and he had spent a lot of his own money.

Cllr Smith asked him if he would be prepared to amend the group’s newly adopted constitution to make it more welcoming to new members.

Mr Molloy said it would be put to members.