A playground that has been plagued by vandals is set for a new lease of life after councillors agreed to look at a three-year investment plan.
Waiting - the playground that is set to have new equipment Picture: DAVE HENDERSON
A slide is the top priority at Plumberow Mount Playspace in Hockley, where repeated damage was threatening the parish council's plans to spend £10,000 on improvements.
Safety tiles were set alight, as was a cantilever swing. Repairing the damage was costing the council thousands of pounds.
The problem became so severe that children and mothers staged a protest last month and organised a petition urging vandals to think twice about their actions.
After a relatively vandal-free summer since then, councillors have agreed to consult playground experts about which improvements would be suitable to make the playground more attractive to local children.
Lesley Vingoe, chairman of Hockley Parish Council's environmental working party, which put the report before the council, said: "We have got to remove a couple of the pieces of equipment that are past their sell-by date and we need someone to tell us what we can have."
"One of the first things we are looking at is a slide. When we spoke to mothers at the playground, all of them said they wanted a big slide."
The council had earmarked £10,000 to spend this year, which was likely to pay for a slide for older children, aged eight and above.
Published Thursday August 26, 2004
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