A PARISH council that shut an “outdated” children’s playground at the start of the summer holiday because of safety fears is to look at getting more modern equipment.
Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council held an emergency meeting last week after an inspection showed that much of its play equipment is unsafe.
The report into Wesley Terrace Play Area by Park Lane Playgrounds found the swings, in particular, were in poor condition and recommended the swing chains and seats be removed to take the equipment out of action.
The report said grommets were missing, the top bar is deteriorating, timbers are cracked and chains and brushes are worn.
The trim trail and cradle swings were also found to be in a poor state of repair.
Five councillors visited the play area on July 20 and decided to shut it immediately.
Their action was backed by other members during the meeting on Friday.
Newly appointed councillor Bob Danby, who is also joint project manager for Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (Utass), noted that some of the equipment, such as the cantilever swing, only needed minor repairs.
He said: “They have recommended stripping the bearings down. That is not a safety issue.”
Cllr Michael Wallbank replied: “If there are any problems we could be in trouble.”
The council decided to call for quotes to repair each item of equipment.
One resident from the village who attended the meeting said: “It [the play area] is not used as much because it is dated.”
In response the council decided to form a working group of members and interested villagers to start fundraising and to looking into getting new play equipment.
Cllr Danby said Utass could take children from the village to various play parks in the area to see what type of equipment would be suitable for the area.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
