A CHRONIC £10m maintenance backlog at city community centres, parks and cemeteries will be cleared within four years under a new Oxford City Council plan.

A mounting bill for vital work at venues across the city has hung over the Town Hall for years and officers say it poses a possible health and safety risk and a threat to the rental income.

The list includes more than £3m of work needed to leisure centres, £1.25m at parks and cemeteries, and £1.85m to community centres.

Some of the council’s commercial property is in such a poor state it is difficult to let.

The backlog does not include work to the authority’s 8,000 council homes.

But through a mix of selling off unwanted property, reducing office space, a land swap deal to rebuild two community centres and a £1.8m investment in leisure centres, the council has cut the backlog to £7m. That outstanding work will now be scheduled over the next four years.

Deputy council leader Ed Turner said the schedule of work was a significant investment in community buildings and a boost for local construction. He added: “As a council we need to maintain property well and we don’t want to waste money fixing a roof many times if it actually needs more major repairs.”

A total of £1m will be spent next year, including £200,000 at Rosehill Community Centre, £77,000 at Risinghurst Community Centre and £65,000 at East Oxford Community Centre.

Improvements include new roofs, windows, decoration and modifications to meet disabled access regulations.

Parts of Oxford’s Covered Market roof will also be upgraded, at a cost of £85,000, and a new pool liner will be installed at Hinksey Pool, costing £110,000.

Some £57,000 will be invested in a vacant council property in George Street that is in such poor condition the council has been unable to let it.

About £2m per year is earmarked to be spent in the following three years.

Mr Turner admitted the council had simply let the maintenance bill mount up over time but added it was “getting it right now”.

He added: “We have taken a look at what buildings we need to have and how we can maintain them properly.

“Reviewing assets is the right thing to be doing when times are tight.”

Among the schemes that have cut the maintenance bill is the council’s plan to reduce its city centre office space. It is selling off offices in Blue Boar Street and at Ramsey House, in St Ebbes.

It has also handed land at Northway and Cowley to Green Square housing association which will build social housing on the sites in a joint venture with designer Kevin McCloud.

In return for the land, Green Square will rebuild Northway and Cowley Community Centres, further cutting the council’s maintenance backlog.