Residents fund Playground staff

Story: Lisa Swift

Sheffield City Council are no longer funding the staffing of Pitsmoor Adventure Playground. From October, local residents are instead funding two Council posts at the playground with grant money, a third worker will be employed through Ellesmere Youth Project to develop the playground.

Pitsmoor Adventure Playground Users Group have been meeting with the Council since March in the hope that the playground could be kept open with Council funded staff. A steering group was set up which brought in additional staff hours from Sheffield Wildlife Trust, Sheffield Futures and the Multiagency Support Team. It was hoped these contributions would help stretch the Council’s budget further.

The Council insist that all the hours allocated to the playground from their budget have been spent up and they threatened to remove their staff completely in September.

Local Councillors, Council managers suggested that the gates be taken off, equipment be removed or replaced and the building eventually demolished. Councillors said an open playground with less adventurous equipment was the only sustainable option.

Residents have argued that the Council has no way to maintain an open playground on that site safely, and they have been seeking grant funding to keep the playground staffed. Laura Watkins chair of Pitsmoor Adventure Playground Users Group said,

“We are confident we can secure more funding to staff the playground, but we need to find a way to manage the provision in the future.”

The Council are continuing to fund the costs of the building and will be working with the User Group over the next 6 months.

The playground will be open 9 hours per week until March. Current opening times are Wednesday and Friday 3.30pm- 6.30pm, Saturday 12-3pm.

The User group are holding a meeting on Wednesday 6th November, 6.30pm at Pitsmoor Adventure Playground to discuss the future of the playground. All welcome.