A CONTROVERSIAL £50,000 grant application that was criticised by some members of a community has been rejected by officials.

The Friends of Dean Park Group’s grant bid for a multi-use games area in the Ferryhill park has been declined by the funding body, the environmental regneration charity Groundwork North- East.

Initial concerns over the application appeared to be unfounded when Groundwork approved the bid to go on to the second stage of the process.

However, Groundwork has since said the Friends of Dean Bank Park Group failed to meet the necessary criteria.

A spokeswoman for Groundwork said: “They have been withdrawn from the programme so they won’t be going forward.

“It is on the basis of the group’s constitution.

“When we received the constitution, it did not meet our criteria for a community group.”

Dean Bank Residents’ Association was critical of the application from the start and moved, during a public meeting, to challenge its authenticity.

The association claimed Friends of Dean Bank Park and Ferryhill Town Council were one and the same organisation.

Allegations of fraud were reported to the police, but the council strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Police said they would not pursue the complaint because Groundwork had investigated and was satisfied the application should go to the next stage.

Meanwhile, the Friends of Dean Bank Park Group held its first meeting and set about recruiting members from the community.

Councillor David Farry, chairman of the Ferryhill Community Partnership, said: “The application and the group have had some problems in the past, but the intentions are good – it’s for the betterment of Dean Bank Park, which will ultimately benefit the whole community and we should get behind it.”

Following the rejection, a Ferryhill Town Council spokesman said he was disappointed but hopeful the project could still move forward.

He said: “The town council, working in partnership with the Friends of Dean Park Group, believed the necessary changes had already been made to the constitution.

“The application has now been resubmitted and all parties are working together to ensure a positive outcome for the community.”