Girl’s plea as play area gets chop
A LITTLE girl sent a letter to council bosses after her local playground was ‘chopped down’ just before the school holidays.
Days earlier, she had spent hours picking up litter and tidying up to make sure the play area was ready for the summer. But then parents and youngsters woke up one morning to find the wooden structure had been cut up by Salford council.
A photo was posted on social media showing the sorry-looking remains of the slide at Campbell Road Playing Fields, in Swinton. It was still in place, but the steps up to it had been removed and wooden stumps from other parts of the structure were left behind. It has now been completely cleared.
The council says repeated vandalism had made the playground unsafe, so it had to be removed.
Janine McDonald’s two daughters Ciara, eight, and Emilia, six, used to play on the park on their way home from school and at weekends.
She said that just days before it was sawn down, the community had taken part in a council-backed litter pick to tidy it up for the summer break.
Janine, 47, told the M.E.N.: “My two daughters were really upset when we saw what had happened.
“My six-year-old came home and didn’t speak. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was sad because they’d cut her playground down. My other daughter reacted completely differently, she was annoyed after working so hard to clean it up and told me she wanted to write to the council herself about it.”
Ciara’s letter to the council features a drawing of someone with a saw chopping down the play area. It read: “We are so upset that you cut down the play area so we can’t play on it. Why did you cut down the play area?”
Janine claims there was no prior notice of consultation, and says residents have been told there is not enough cash in the pot to replace it, which the council denies.
She said: “It came completely out of the blue. Why would the council provide us with all the stuff for a litter pick – grabbers, bags, even printed banners, if they were going to take it away a few days later?”
Coun David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said: “The play equipment was installed in 2010 but has been repeatedly vandalised and set on fire over the years. It had reached a point where it was simply unsafe and we did not want to take the risk of a child injuring themselves, particularly during the summer holidays. Our contractors were instructed to make the site safe which they have done.
“It’s a real shame that senseless vandals have spoiled this playground for their community but we certainly do have plans to replace it.
“We are working on those at the moment and are meeting with residents in August to start consultations.”