Children Put at Risk by Poor State of Play Area

10.15.39am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Oct 2008

Southdown Councillors Dine Romero and Paul Crossley met angry parents and children at the Roundhill Park play area on Friday morning (10 October) to hear their views on the state of the facilities. The parents were furious about the poor state of repair of the play area, misuse by older youths and the broken glass in the bark chipping safety surface.

Now two young girls have been injured, one on a piece of loose wire and one from a cut eyebrow when another youngster threw rubbish from the play area floor at her.

Nearly 18 months ago the children of Roundhill Park presented a petition asking for their play area to be improved. Over the last two years Councillors Romero and Crossley have raised the matter with Somer Housing Trust, who own and maintain the play area, several times to no avail.

Councillor Romero commented, "Somer must respond swiftly to these two accidents and carry out works to remove the jagged remains of the wooden barricade, tidy up the floor covering and remove the slide which is attracting the older youths. Dedicated play areas such as this must be safe for young children to play in."

Councillor Crossley added, "This issue has been rumbling on for a long time now. I hope that following these two accidents Somer will now respond promptly to the concerns of parents and young children to provide a clean and safe play environment."