Residents will take their fight to save their village playground to the government – calling for their share of £30,000 Playbuilder funding to be spared the axe.
The Chronicle revealed recently that a Playbuilder scheme at Newtown, near Wem, was one of 14 projects across the county, which is currently under review after Shropshire Council lost almost £600,000 of Department of Education funding earmarked for creating and/or improving play areas.
Members of the Newtown Community and Recreation Association (NCRA) have since held a protest meeting and met again on Tuesday to consider the way forward in their battle to save the village playground which has been closed for the past seven months after RoSPA highlighted a number of safety issues.
A petition carrying 16 names, with more on the way, will be sent this weekend to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, north Shropshire’s MP Owen Paterson and Shropshire Council.
Tim Wastling, chairman of the NCRA, told the Chronicle people were ‘dismayed’ at the possibility of losing out on the £30,000 funding. The nearest playground is in Loppington – two miles away.
He said: “Those attending the protest meeting on August 10 expressed the view that the playground was an important element of the park which needed to be retained both because of its popularity with the children, and because of its role in helping to reduce the road in Newtown being used as play area.
“We are still pressing ahead to see whether we can get the Playbuilder money. We do have a contingency plan in place that if we can’t get that funding we have some plans in the autumn to resurface the park ourselves and put down some bark as well as removing one or two items that need repair and in due course we will replace them.”
He added that the committee had reserves of £4,050 which they will consider using a portion of to ensure the play area is re-opened, but ongoing fundraising efforts will be needed to help meet the playground’s day to day running costs.
Anyone wishing to join the committee is urged to contact Tim Wastling on 01939 235475 or email tim.wastling@btopenworld.com
by Charlotte Hester