LOTTERY officials are being told "back us or drop us" by Sutton residents in their bid for cash to restore the village's historic park.

Parish councillors have issued the ultimatum after becoming annoyed at constant delays and claim important paperwork is being mislaid by lottery officers.

The last straw came this week when the council received a two-and-a-half page letter from the Heritage Lottery Fund requesting details of the bid which members say have already been provided.

The Herald reported last month how villagers were gearing up to repair the park themselves after becoming fed-up with delays.

Now the parish council is to fire off an angry letter to lottery HQ detailing the problems it has faced.

Tens of thousands of pounds are needed to restore Sutton's Edwardian park to its former glory.

Cash from a successful small lottery bid was spent on employing experts from York University to carry out a survey and produce a weighty report on what needed to be done.

Work includes repairing the original iron railings, benches and shelters installed in 1912 when the park was built, re-roofing the park lodge, and repairing steps and paths, as well as providing more play equipment.

The full-scale bid is being co-ordinated by Coun Barbara Smith, who has been praised for all her hard work.

Chairman Steve Morrell said: "The council has authorised Barbara to reply to the Heritage Lottery Fund, providing details of all the many, many problems we have encountered with their handling of our bid due to their incompetence and negligence and asking once and for all for them to either back us without further delay, or state that our bid is not acceptable."

"We are going that extra mile for the sake of the village community we represent who have supported this venture throughout.

"If the Heritage Lottery Fund do not get their act together with a definitive, positive reply in time for the next council meeting, the council is in no mood to let this situation go on any further."

Coun Morrell said the whole council was extremely grateful for Coun Smith's work with the bid.

"I personally think she is a tower of strength within this village, and that she has moved proverbial mountains to get this far with this bid," he said.

A spokesman for the Heritage Lottery Fund said the bid was in the process of being assessed but denied that important information has been lost.

"We found that there was enough information and requested further details," he said.

"Some of our questions still need to be answered before we can make a final decision.

"These are large sums of money that we're dealing with and we have to make sure they are sustainable projects before we can commit public money."

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