A ROW rumbles on about how funding for public facilities like play areas, benches and street signs should be divided across the borough.

The Conservatives have opposed targeting the allocation of the public realm money again, despite changes to the proposal by Labour who admitted to using outdated figures.

This means an additional £2.6 million to address local environmental priorities will be delayed further.

Opposition councillors have renewed calls for Labour to share details of the deprivation formula used to allocate part of the funding, with some calling its existence into question.

Both the Tory and the Liberal Democrats leaders opposed giving some wards more of the money than others and called in the decision at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Tory leader David Greenhalgh told The Bolton News: “Wherever you live in Bolton, every resident has a right to an equal share of this additional money spent in their area. Conservatives believe it is wholly inappropriate to use deprivation criteria.”

Labour proposed to allocate £1.1 million of the money according to a formula which gives more to deprived areas.

However, the proposal was taken to a scrutiny committee in November before Cllr Nick Peel told a full council meeting it would be reconsidered as new information had come to light.

After admitting that the original allocation was based on statistics from 2007, the proposal was amended so that each ward would get an equal share of one third of the public realm money.

The deprivation formula would be applied to the remaining £733,333 using figures from the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Under these updated figures, Halliwell would be almost £30,000 better off, while Rumworth would lose out by nearly £80,000.

Cllr Greenhalgh said it was a “sad state of affairs” that officers had been using 11-year-old statistics, but fundamentally disagreed with targeted funding for this money.

He added: “If this funding was to tackle poverty or reduce health inequalities, or improve housing, then obviously funding should be targeted at those areas in most need, but this is not.

"This money is for improvements to children’s play areas, to recreational and sporting facilities and to the wider environment, and all areas pay their council tax and have a right to expect an equal share of this funding.”

The decision has now been referred back to a scrutiny committee for further debate, where members can send it to a full council meeting for a vote.

At Monday’s meeting, council leader Linda Thomas described the Conservative action as “righteous indignation”. She criticised the Tory leader for taking issue with this but not with the cuts to council coffers.

She said: “I wish you got so irate about the £155 million [of cuts]. We are talking about a very small amount of money that we have made available. Your government has absolutely decimated our town.”