Park improvements under fire

Story & photos: Lisa Swift

Burngreave residents feel they have been badly let down after projects to improve local green spaces have failed to make the grade.

Denholme Close playground and Burngreave Recreation Ground, were both due to be finished in April of this year, but residents near both projects say they were not finished properly.

The Council commissioned the projects with a range of funding it pulled together, including Play Builder and Viridor money. The Council has to bring in contractors to work on projects like this.

The Denholme project has been a real disappointment to local parents. Back in 2009 the Parents group PITS campaigned for the playground to be renovated and helped clean up the park to show the Council how important it was to local people. Two years on, PITS member, Donna Divers said it was a mess:

“It’s not finished. It’s a real shame because the kids love it. When we got involved in helping design the playground we were expecting a lot more. It’s not safe really, the surfaces are stuck up and uneven, we’ve had a few accidents already. And the Zip swing has broken a few times and had to be fixed.”

The soft surfaces of the original playground are full of holes or are badly patched, while the new equipment is installed above a patch work of surfaces that stick up at all angles.

At Burngreave Rec residents complained that the project had over run by five months, and when launched in August still wasn’t finished. One local resident said,

“It’s just a mess. The old playing field is lumpy because the contractors have been driving all over it. And the steps and paths are not finished properly.”

The stone steps have already been damaged by misuse of the park, rocks have been rolled down the steps chipping the surface. Residents say the rocks, used to edge the path, were not cemented in properly. There are also concerns about an increase of drug dealing; one part of the scheme has created a secluded spot perfect for such activity. Planting promised for the area has yet to materialise.

Local Councillors have said they are very concerned about the quality of the work and have promised to look into it urgently. Council officers are also working to get the contractors to complete the agreed work to an acceptable standard.

A further victim in September was the Ripples in the Pond project in Firth Park, where unfortunately the launch event had to be cancelled due to work not being completed to a satisfactory standard.