News

Playground youngsters waited five years for closed after three weeks

By Jennie Slevin
December 05, 2012

Children forced to wait five years for a play park at a new housing estate had their fun spoilt when it closed after just three weeks.

Families feel ‘let down’ after the long-awaited play area in The Parks was closed by developers Taylor Wimpey after it became a mud bath last Thursday.

The developers blamed a lack of grass for the temporary closure of the park in Hawk Lane.

Disgruntled dad Steve Dalton, of The Parks, said: “It’s ridiculous that a lack of grass has closed the park. I understand they don’t want to be responsible for a child hurting themselves but it’s a park, children fall over all the time.

“I have a three-year-old daughter who’s very distressed, she thinks it’s her park and she doesn’t understand why she now can’t play in it. She’s distraught and my wife’s had a really tough day with her trying to explain why she can’t use it. We’ve been living here for five years and we’ve been waiting the whole time for a play park which we were promised when we moved in.”

Steve said the closure means he has to walk for 25 minutes with his daughter to get to the nearest play area.

He added he suggested to Taylor Wimpey they use tarmac to cover the area but said he was told it was against the company’s planning agreement.

He added: “The grass there is really marshy and I’m not convinced it’s going to grow.

“I’ll be really upset if they wait until next year for the grass to grow, then decide it won’t and put concrete over it at a later date.”

A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said: “Grass seed sown within the play area had failed to take root, and after it had been opened for a short time the ground became cut up and muddy.

“As a result, the play area has been temporarily closed, a new surface will be laid, and we anticipate it reopening in the near future.”

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Most recent user comments 7 of 7

Also noticed that they've been waiting for 5 years, yet their child is only 3? Did they want a slide for themselves?! I only assume this because there's no mention of a 2nd, older child... ;)

Bruce Wayne
05/12/2012 at 11:03

Five years to wait for an older child's park

Try Jennett's Park heading towards year 6 from 2013!

CMK
05/12/2012 at 10:54

(Bl@#dy smartphone!)

What he means is - he's being inconvenienced by having to take his moaning daughter to another park. Oh no, you have to walk!

My kids moan at the drop of a hat - it's in the T&C's of being a parent.

Taylor Wimpey - grow a pair and use a bit of common.

Winstanley, Bracknell
05/12/2012 at 10:49

I agree with the silliness of closing this playground - but I do think the Dad complaining is over egging it a bit. A 3 yo distraught, and distressed?

What he means is he's been inconvenienced by his nippers m

Winstanley, Bracknell
05/12/2012 at 10:46

Stupid "health and safety". As long as the equipment is safe, the parents should be entirely responsible for making a judgement on whether it is safe to play or whether they really want to do all that washing, and let the kids get on with it. Like Br says, when I was young, mud in a playground was standard. You didn't get a single playground without it. I'd not seen grass near a slide until about 2001.

mavdo, Wokingham
05/12/2012 at 10:28

For crying out loud -- my local park was ALWAYS sodden when I was a bairn. You'd have to jump when you got to the bottom of the slide to avoid the puddles and the ground beneath the swings was covered in mulch which was inevitably pushed away by feet leaving huge puddles of mud... Don't ruin the fun, open the damn park!

Br
05/12/2012 at 09:59

Looking at the picture, all the equipment is actually on that rubbery tarmac stuff (don't know the proper name) so what's the point in closing it? That's why we buy our kids wellies! They should have done a proper job in the first place, rather than the standard British worker mentality of "let's do a half arsed job and hope no-one moans. Then even if they do, they'll have to pay us to fix our mistake anyway"