NO sooner has Barnard Castle Town Council repaired one piece of unsafe equipment in a play park, than it now has to cordon off another in a different area.
The council’s services committee heard that flat swings had been replaced at Bouch Way park, but problems had arisen with the Hucks bird’s nest apparatus at Dawson Road play area.
Town clerk Martin Clark said: “It is a big piece of equipment. A routine inspection revealed significant issues with it. It identified that the existing cross beams need to be replaced.
“The apparatus has been temporarily cordoned off.”
Cllr Laura Drew pointed out that it now poses a major risk to children.
She said: “The temporary cordoning off isn’t ideal because as we have seen at the other playground, people just dodge it. It is one thing a toddler slide being out of action, but with the height of that, if someone did ignore the cordoning off and went through it – they are going to fall from a height.”
The council agreed to spend £1,980 to have the beams replaced urgently.
Mr Clark said it would take between five and six weeks for the work to be done.
