A Herefordshire councillor has hit out at the state of playgrounds managed by one of the county’s biggest housing providers.
“I feel pretty miserable looking at these play areas in our villages which are run by Connexus,” Coun Toni Fagan, Green member for Birch ward south of Hereford, said in an online post.
One at Tump Lane, between Much Birch and Wormelow, “used to have equipment but it fell into disrepair and got carted off”, she said – leaving only the empty frame for swings, along with football goals.
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In nearby Much Dewchurch meanwhile, “the wooden play area has been fenced off with no explanation”, Coun Fagan said.
And a former Connexus playground in Red Hill, behind Hereford’s Child Development Centre, has now been “given over to allotments where children are not welcome to play” following planning approval earlier this year .
She considered this “disrespectful to the next generation”.
“There is no money in, or for, play,” she said – but reckoned “we actually save money if we give children access to good play areas”, by making them happy, active and resilient.
“If there is no money from our statutory agencies to run playgrounds, then communities must claim them back,” she urged.
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On this, Clehonger parish councillor Carole Protherough said a local group of “mainly grannies” had raised funds to restore a “desolate, semi-derelict” playground in her village, adding: “It can be done.”
Connexus was formed in part from Herefordshire Housing, the vehicle for the county council’s former housing stock.
Its chief operating officer Nick Batt said of the Much Dewchurch playground: “We take the safety of the play areas we manage extremely seriously and will secure sites if they become unsuitable to use.
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“In this case some of the wooden equipment and perimeter fence posts had become rotten. While we are arranging replacement equipment and repairs, we’ve taken steps to secure the site, so it doesn’t present a hazard,” he said.
“We aim to return the play area to use as soon as possible.”
Connexus did not say when asked how many playgrounds it manages in the county, or how many of these are out of use.
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