Gateshead's parks and green spaces are more reliant than ever on "fragile" voluntary organisations as cuts and austerity measures continue to drain council resources.
There are 28 parks and 120 fixed play sites throughout Gateshead, alongside woodlands, meadows, and sites of scientific interest. Volunteers help maintain many of these sites.
However, the capacity and sustainability of volunteers and voluntary organisations throughout the area has raised concerns.
The Covid-19 pandemic also saw a decrease in volunteering and the numbers have not returned to pre-covid levels.
Philip Hindmarsh, service director for environment and fleet management told councillors: "We are getting great support to help with managing the green spaces. It's good to see that volunteering has come back but it has not come back the way it was pre-covid.
"We know with austerity and budget cuts we cannot maintain these facilities like we used or how we would like to.
The council's own report into voluntary assistance for green spaces and parks states: "Voluntary groups require significant and frequent support and their structure and sustainability can be fragile at times. Charitable and other organisations also require significant cross-council support, particularly where responsibility for assets is transferred and managed by the volunteers or organisation.
Mr Hindmarsh continued: "The support we give to volunteers does not come for free. We have to provide a lot of support to voluntary groups through things like community asset transfers."
Housing, environment and healthier communities committee member coun Hugh Kelly, said: "Sometimes, one of the difficulties of supporting our volunteer groups is that there is not a realistic discussion about capacity. The capacity the local authority has is more sustained whereas the capacity in voluntary organisations ebbs and flows.
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"It's a hard thing for councillors to give support to and negotiate because there are different expectations. It is a fragile environment."
Despite this, the council is set to complete the asset transfer of Thornley Wood visitor centre. The transfer will create a cafe and visitor hub.
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