Bournemouth mums back MP's call for playground improvements
"It's heart-breaking," says mum-of-two Karen Shearer as she looks at the rundown playground behind her."They loved coming here before school, after school, let off that bit of energy, takes them off their screen."Ms Shearer is one of the parents in Boscombe that says the local playground has deteriorated so badly their children no longer want to play there.But the councillor in charge of parks and gardens at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has told BBC Politics South the authority has been forced to close some playparks "because we haven't the money to keep maintaining them".
Kings Park had new wooden play equipment and a zip wire installed in November 2016, but much of it has weathered and become unsafe. In 2024 it was removed.Ms Shearer has two young children and says the adventure play equipment was very popular with them before it was removed: "My children enjoyed it so much. "They don't have that much time for sport in school. They've got nature here, trees, it's outdoor space, it's what's needed".
BCP Council has an annual budget of more than £320m, with £150,000 being spent on parks and gardens annually. Councillor Andy Hadley, the portfolio holder for Climate, Environment and Energy at BCP Council, says they have spent the last two years reviewing all their 171 parks."Some we have had to close because we haven't the money to keep maintaining them," he says."We've actually had to stop doing the maintenance so we've had to say 'sorry, we can't fix that piece of kit, work out whether it's safe or not and if not, close it'."
Parents are worried about the long-term impact on children. Niamh Fletcher-Kennedy says that because of it, children will spend too much time on screens, rather than playing outside."I've got two kids", Ms Fletcher-Kennedy explains, "it was their favourite thing to do and now if you ask them 'do you want to go to the playground?' the answer's 'no' because there's nothing to do and it's actually quite depressing to look at".She added that "there are hundreds of kids that use the park".
The situation in Boscombe has now been highlighted in Parliament. Bournemouth East Labour MP Tom Hayes held a debate on improving public parks earlier this month. "I want politicians to care about children. Children are losing out on so many opportunities to make friends, have better mental health, to learn skills. "Parents are missing out on opportunities to make friendships," he says.The MP added that "for 17 years Parliament hasn't talked about parks for more than an hour" and says it is "no wonder we've got playgrounds in such a state"."We've got to move from words to actually doing something," he says. "I'm calling on BCP Council to bring forward investment and a clear sense of when playgrounds are going to improve, and calling on the government to bring out the first national play strategy since 2008."
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