The state of some of the play parks in Spalding is ‘dire’, councillors have said.
Members of Spalding Town Forum were told that a working group has been established to look at the town’s parks and report back on any issues which have been identified, writes Local Democracy Reporter Oliver Castle.
At a meeting on Wednesday, January 14, councillors heard that some members of the town forum are in the process of visiting the parks across Spalding and will make a list of the ones which are most in need of repair.
Coun James Le Sage (independent – Spalding St John’s ward) said he had visited some of the parks and would like the town forum to allocate some funding towards refurbishing some of them before a major council shake-up changes the nature of local authorities in the area.
He said: “I would just like to reiterate that the state of some of the play parks is dire.
“I know that the budget for repairs has been incredibly low over the past few years.
“We are probably not going to be around as a council for much longer – in terms of another year and a bit.
“I think with the town forum, we should be doing something and something positive that we could do for the children of this area is to improve the play parks.
“They spent far too much time on iPads and one thing we could do positively is improve the play parks in the area.
“I think we should make it a priority. I think we should ringfence some funding to make sure that certainly those that are the worst play parks – and I know councillor Hasan has graded them – that we sort them as a matter of urgency.”
Coun Manzur Hasan (Reform UK – Spalding St John’s ward) also said that he believes that some of the play parks in Spalding pose a health and safety risk.
He added: “I’ve recently visited a number of play parks along with councillor (Ingrid) Sheard, councillor (James) Le Sage, across Spalding town that are maintained by South Holland District Council.
“I’m sorry to say that I’m concerned about the poor conditions of many of these facilities.
“We are observing equipment that is rusty, broken or missing altogether which presents serious health and safety risks for children and families who use these parks.
“In several locations, urgent maintenance is clearly required.”
Coun Ingrid Sheard (Reform UK – Spalding Monkshouse) said she had also conducted a site visit of some of the play parks.
She added: “I agree with everything that’s been said. It’s also about children’s health and safety.
“You can’t do too much to improve that and feed into that and ensure that the children can come and enjoy these spaces.
“If we’re going to have these spaces then we need to maintain them to an adequate level and the majority of them are not, so the sooner we can look at this, the better.”
Coun Rob Gibson (Reform UK – Spalding St Paul’s ward), who was chairing the meeting, explained that while the town forum would not have enough money to refurbish all of the play parks, the working group could put together a list of the ones most in need of repair.
He said: “The small group has had a look at some of the play parks because I don’t think we’ve got all of them yet.
“It’s just to get an idea and a bit of a steer of where we are and to have a look at some of them.
“Some of these play parks could probably be built to a nice standard, a couple of thousands pounds – a new swing and fix the gate.
“But some of them are not in a good state and would cost £60,000 at least.
“We cannot fix everything but I wanted to come up with a list of some of them so we can start looking at them.”
Coun Gibson explained that councillors will continue to add parks to the list and the town forum will consider the full list at a later date.
The town forum – a grouping that dicusses Spalding issues in lieu of having a town council – will then consider the cost of the possible repairs and whether or not to allocate any funding towards the repairs.
But Coun Henry Bingham (Conservative – Donington, Quadring and Gosberton ward) defended South Holland District Council’s approach to maintaining play parks and said the authority already had plans to refurbish some of the parks which it owns.
He has previously mooted that the town forum or a new town council take on the parks as parish and town councils do in other parts of South Holland. Spalding does not currently have its own council.
The portfolio holder for assets and strategic planning at the district council, said: “This council takes health and safety very seriously. Yes, a lot of the parks need work. We don’t deny that.
“I came to the last town forum and explained that I’m quite happy to work through this. The rest has come to me because it’s such a large job and has gone to assets because they deal with projects and we’re looking at this as a project.
“But I will reassure people that the parks are reinspected in line with everything they should be.
“They are checked weekly. The parks that were called unsafe have been rechecked today. That is not the case.
“They’re dated – true. The paint is faded – true. They need a clean – true. They are not unsafe. We take it very seriously.”
Coun Bingham went on to explain that the district council had a “programme of works” planned to address some of these concerns including repainting equipment and replacing fences and gates.
