Saved: £30k averts playground closure
APOPULAR Southport playground will be saved, as £30,000 has been made available.
The news comes after Sefton Council announced that the area outside Kew Woods Primary School, in Ovington Drive, would close in August.
The council said this was because the 30-yearold equipment had suffered rapid deterioration, and was no longer “fit for purpose”.
Local families were concerned about the closure, and have since pro- tested against it. Campaigns were quickly set up by local parents and two petitions, organised by residents Nat Glennon and Diane Thomas, have received support from almost 2,000 people.
It seems as though the protesting paid off, as Sefton Council has now confirmed that money to save the playground has been made available through its capital programme.
A sum of £30,000 has been agreed with cabinet member for health and wellbeing, Cllr Ian Moncur, for new playground equipment.
Designs are being drawn up involving the local community to replace the outdated equipment, which had rapidly deteriorated and has been removed.
Once plans are finalised, it is hoped the new play area will open next spring.
Cllr Moncur said: “Earlier this year, we made the difficult decision to decommission the play area on safety grounds.
“As a result of community reaction to the closure and representations made to the leader of the council and myself, I rapidly exercised my discretion to identify funding from within the existing parks budget to prevent the closure.
“We are currently working with the local community on designs for the play area, and, once complete and agreed, we will start work on the site.
“Discussions are ongoing on a similar scheme relating to Smithy Green, in Formby.”