Council’s not playing over park work
£100,000 facility is under the spotlight again
North Lanarkshire Council will not carry out work on a playpark in Craigneuk despite concerns from residents.
The park on Alderside Avenue, which opened last year at a cost of £100,000 now has uneven ground due to grass growing under the matting.
A worried resident contacted our Facebook page to highlight the issue and was becoming fed-up of reporting it to the council.
Elaine Taylor posted: “Check out the state of Alderside swing park in Craigneuk, it’s terrible and full of trip hazards.
“I’m sick of kids skinning their knees tripping over kerb edges and uneven ground. Been reporting it to NLC for months but no- one is interested.”
Now the issues have been raised at a Craigneuk Residents and Tenants Association meeting and three local councillors have promised to take action.
SNP councillors Alan Valentine and Agnes Magowan joined Labour’s Kenneth Duffy for a walk around the park.
Councillor Magowan said: “After a Craigneuk Residents and Tenants Association meeting, myself and Councillors Valentine and Duffy went to view the park.
“The material around the roundabout was in good order. “But the grass matting was raised and muddy. “On contacting the council the site was visited by an officer from the council’s land management team with Christina McReady, play services officer.
“The report by email stated that “there are some slight undulations in the grass matting which is to be expected as it fits the contour of the ground.
“All the play areas have an independent annual inspection and the surfacing on this site is still fully compliant. The play area is inspected on a weekly basis by Land Management and they will continue to monitor the site.
“As councillors, we will also continue to monitor the site.”
The park was plagued with vandalism soon after its official opening in May last year.
Now residents are wanting the facility to be looked after and a spokesman for Culture NL, play services, said: “After an extensive process of community consultation to ensure we created a play facility that was devised by local people, especially young people, the new play facility was opened in May 2016 at a cost of £100,000.
“The grass matting safety surfacing used in this play area and most of the play areas in North Lanarkshire is designed so that the grass will grow through it and was installed according to manufacturer’s instructions.
“The council inspect the play area on a weekly basis and will continue to monitor the site.”