Town's play parks in dire state, councillors say

Play parks in Spalding are "dire" and "pose a health and safety risk", it has been claimed.

Members of Spalding Town Forum are making a list of the ones most in need of repair.

At a meeting on Wednesday, councillor Manzur Hasan said he believed some of the parks, maintained by South Holland District Council, posed a health and safety risk.

However, councillor Henry Bingham said: "They're dated, true. The paint is faded, true. They need a clean, true. They are not unsafe. We take it very seriously."

Bingham added that the parks labelled unsafe were checked on Wednesday and reassured councillors that they were safe.

But Hasan said the equipment at some parks was "rusty, broken or missing altogether".

Councillor James Le Sage added the state of some of the parks is "dire" and noted the budget for repairs has been "incredibly low" over the past few years.

He called for funding to be secured to improve the play parks as it was a "matter of urgency".

Councillor Rob Gibson, who was chairing the meeting, said, while the town forum would not have enough money to refurbish all of the play parks, a list could be put together of the ones most in need of repair.

He said: "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."

Bingham said South Holland District Council already had plans to revamp some of the parks, which included repainting equipment and replacing fences and gates.

Despite this, Gibson said the town forum would consider the full list of parks in need of repair at a later date.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the town forum would then consider the repair costs and whether to allocate funding.

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