Park plan ‘too little ... too late’
Resident slams developer
Liz Barrett says she will continue to push Bellway Homes A housing developer has said it is “committed” to restoring a muchloved play park in Perth.
Children will only be able to look on at Darnhall play park over the school summer holidays, as it remains behind barriers following months of sewage storage works by Bellway Homes.
Bellway sealed off the site in Craigie in November to make way for the sewage works, which were needed as part of their housing development at Charlotte Gate in Cherrybank.
However, the play park is still out of bounds eight months later despite the sewage works being completed.
The housing developer said it has faced a number of issues in re-turfing the play park because of “wet weather” and conditions being “too dry”.
As a result, the play equipment and basketball court on Darnhall Park remain unusable during the summer months and children - who went on their summer holidays yesterday - will need to find another park to play in during the warm weather.
A spokesperson for Bellway Homes said: “We are committed to restoring the grassed area and it is very unfortunate that we have faced problems with the turf taking.
“This initially was caused by adverse wet weather, and further compounded when a second attempt to hydroseed the area failed, due to the conditions being too dry.
“We are as frustrated with this as the local community and can only emphasise our ongoing commitment to quickly resolving the area as fast as nature allows us to do.”
However local resident Liz Barrett says this promise is “too little, too late”.
Mrs Barrett has been campaigning to have the play park restored and has been pushing Bellway Homes to move forward with their obligations to bring the popular play park back up to its former glory.
Liz said: “This is all down to Bellway doing too little, too late. The adverse wet weather excuse only applied back in the spring.
“They eventually seeded the grass at the end of May, and at that time - rather than wait for them to fail - I warned Steven Baird of Bellway that there was virtually no rain forecast for Perth in the next few weeks.
“They took no further action until mid June when they hydro seeded, but did not water, so of course it has failed.
“Bellway should step up now and lay turf over the whole area - and water if needed - so that residents and families can enjoy the park properly this summer.
“I am so frustrated by this.”
I am so frustrated by this