Playground funding cut

Dear Messenger,

In July 2009 the PITS group organised a clean-up day at Denolme Park and reported all the dangers in the children's play area. There is play equipment that is not fixed securely to the ground, damaged equipment and the floor covering has lifted and become very unsafe. There were local residents, children, volunteers and Sheffield City Council representatives and councillors at the park in July 2009. They all agreed that Denholme Park was in a bad state of repair and that this was reported to the parks department.

The PITS group were contacted by SCC in April 2010 to discuss the improvements to the park. The repairs were going ahead and in addition they were going to be putting in some new equipment for teenagers to use just outside the gated area (zip slide and adventure equipment). All this was going ahead until the Government change. We then heard through the grapevine that a lot of projects were getting cancelled due to funding cuts.

The PITS group are very disappointed and feel let down after all their hard work. Firstly we feel that the council parks department should have spoken to us directly to let us know exactly what was happening, as they have talked to the young people in the area and told them that this was happening for them (another reason for the young people to distrust the authorities). Our final point being that the park is still in a bad condition and parts of it are still very dangerous. The play area still needs doing and the repairs should be a priority regardless of funding cuts. This should have been dealt with a long time ago.

We would like someone to explain their ethics on this matter, are the cuts more important than our children's safety?

Anwar Suliman, on behalf of the PITS group (Parents Intervention Takes a Stand)