Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Finsbury Park children's playground
His response: there is no budget for repairs to the playground, and so far as he is aware the council simply files his reports which regularly note damage to parts of the playground.
This is a little disappointing to say the least, because the sandpit has steadily been drained of sand over the last two years, there are huge gaps where the wood has rotten away, the little swings take a good pair of mum guns to push, and the "mushrooms" have all seen better days. As the playground gets more popular year on year I wonder what the end result will be?
Does anyone know any more about this /can confirm what the inspector said?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Burgoyne Bec,
Many thanks for your report about the condition of the Finsbury Park playground that I read with interest.
I note the claim that there is no budget for repairs to the playground.
I'll draw this to the attention of The Friends of Finsbury Park.
C D C
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
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Permalink Reply by Penguin on
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Great to hear that all that money they are making from renting our park out to music festivals is being spent wisely!
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Fully agree. I hope they consider children's safety important enough to take some action.
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Maybe it would take a child actually sustaining an injury to galvanise them into action.
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It's actually dangerous. The 'curly ' plastic slide is broken near the bottom. Kids going down fast catch their legs on it. At some point thats going to end with a child getting a very nasty cut.
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The park inspector pointed out the same. I am really surprised the council hasn't taken action to fix the slide or the jagged edges in the sandpit border for that matter.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Years ago Haringey used to have very small team of staff who regularly inspected every playground and could quickly carry out repairs; make equipment safe; or remove it while parts were made/ordered for replacement. There was also regular external inspection. The internal team were very experienced, knew the equipment and were always doing the rounds of the sites.
I haven't been to Finsbury Park to see the equipment, and don't know anyone who has. But simply taking at face value what Bec, Celia and Tris describe, I have a couple of suggestions. Apologies if this is obvious and is already underway.
- I suggest people take photos of the equipment and send them urgently to the three ward councillors; the Council Leader; and the Chief Executive, with a brief description of the problems.
- Again, if people haven't already done so, I suggest key questions are asked, including: what is the inspection system? Who inspects? And how often? Training for the people inspecting is also essential so they know what they're are looking at and which equipment parts are especially risky.
I assume these aspects are all in place. But it does no harm to ask. - Good, high quality play equipment has never been cheap, and may be made by specialist firms. But the damaged parts described by Tris and Celia don't sound among the most expensive items.
- It's one thing for an inspection report to note wear and tear and an unmet need for newer equipment. But a report about significant risk to children should never be just filed away.
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Thanks Alan, I will follow up by emailing the council as you suggest.
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