‘Levelling up’ chess tables costing £50k installed across the North West

Chess tables costing a total of £50,000 have been installed in parks across the North West as part of the Government’s levelling-up agenda.

Twenty of the stone boards, each costing £2,500, have been set up around Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria. No pieces are included.

Nigel Short MBE, a grandmaster of the sport, hailed the investment as “great news”.

But others have said the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

Henri Murison, the chief executive of Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said it showed how “tokenistic levelling up had become”.

The Government’s levelling-up agenda is designed to reduce regional inequality. Rishi Sunak said it aimed to “create jobs, drive growth, and make sure that people feel enormous pride in the places that they call home”.

‘It’s extremely welcome’

Local authorities which received funding under the Levelling Up Parks Fund were invited to apply for an additional £2,500 to cover the installation cost of chess tables and accompanying seats or benches.

The investment forms part of a wider £1 million package to support primary school children in disadvantaged areas to learn how to play the game. It is also to be used for funding elite-level chess.

Mr Short told the BBC: “It’s not a massive amount of money but it’s extremely welcome. If you spent half a million quid on football it’s loose change, but for chess this is quite a substantial sum.”

The Government hopes the funding will help England create more grandmasters and boost the country’s world ranking.

He added: “It doesn’t happen overnight and, although I do think we’re turning the corner to some degree, I’m not sure it’s going to be sufficient to make a big splash.”

‘White elephant’

Karl Mercer, chairman of the Friends of Central Park voluntary group in Wirral, said the board in Wallasey Central Park was a “white elephant”.

Mr Mercer said: “I think the £2,500 for this board probably could have been spent on something that is actually going to get used. I think it should be about things like transport or looking after the community.

“Park budgets around here have been cut right back to the bone, now we’ve ended up with a chess board that’s sort of a white elephant.”

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership is a business-led think tank and advocacy group for the North of England.

Mr Murison, the chief executive, told BBC: “It shows the misunderstanding the Prime Minister has about how local government works, because his job in central government is to give local government enough money to pick its own priorities, not to throw sweeties at the provinces.

“If there’s money to spend, it should be spent on what local people want and need the most. Now, nothing locally happens without some sort of top down initiative.

“This approach of taking big decisions in Whitehall and micro-managing the small decisions is a symptom of a broken relationship between central and local government.”

A government spokesman told the broadcaster: “We’re spending £15 billion in levelling-up funding to spread opportunity, regenerate areas most in need and enhance cherished community spaces.

“Community chess tables will improve local green spaces, encourage more to play chess together and inspire the next generation of players.”

The Government was contacted by The Telegraph for comment.