AN EMERGENCY meeting has been called to consider if the Cotswold Water Park Society is "fit for purpose".

Sixteen parish councils from the Cotswolds and North Wiltshire will challenge the body about its "dire" financial state.

Water Park district councillor Esmond Jenkins said the Society had a reported £1 million of losses in two years.

"We have been witnessing Alice in Wonderland business management," he said.

The Lib Dem will fire questions at Water Park Society chief executive Dennis Grant and councillors from the Joint Water Park Committee, which oversees the Society's work.

The mass forum will be chaired by Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who called the meeting, at Somerford Keynes village on March 26.

Residents want more of a say in how the 40-square mile park, dedicated to tourism and wildlife, is being run by the environmental charity which was set up by public funds and serves the public.

Concern has been mounting since walkers claim footpaths were closed in Keynes Country Park, after the Society sub-let the public asset to private developers Watermark in January 2008.

The Audit Commission was called in to investigate the transaction in 2009, but the Water Park said it was totally done 'by the book' to bring in investment.

Councillor Jenkins said: "Many people are increasingly concerned about the way the Water Park Society is being run. The basic point of this meeting is to establish whether the Society is fit for purpose.

"I'm fully behind the coalition of parish councils that is driving this process of public scrutiny forward. With a reported £1 million of losses in two years the management of the Society needs a drains up review. The Society's dire financial predicament needs to be explained by the Board – if they're not up to the job then we need to see personnel changes with new faces with appropriate business skills being brought in."

Mr Jenkins said local people had been asking to become shareholders in the Society for some time, to get more community representation.

He said: "The public have expressed concerns about footpaths, access to land and stewardship of public assets."

Mr Jenkins said the Society's latest accounts, for the nine months to March 31, 2008, published in December 2009, showed assets plunging from £3 million to £378,000.

Two principal land assets, Keynes Country Park and the Gateway Centre, were disposed of in January and July 2008.

Water Park Society chief executive Dennis Grant said: "All the questions posed to us have been answered.

"Only 11 per cent of our annual £1 million income – £135,000 – is from public money and how we spend that is under very close scrutiny by the Joint Committee.

"The rest of our turnover has nothing to do with the public."