Scores of parents and children are unhappy that a brand new £140,000 play area which opened in Highbridge last month has been turned into a muddy quagmire and are calling for action from the district council.
The long-awaited revamp of Apex Park’s play area was completed last month, but since then poor wearher has left the play equipment surrounded by pools of rain water and thick mud.
A group of parents has this week called on Sedgemoor District Council – which oversaw the building of the play area – to introduce extra sponge flooring around the equipment so that it can be used following wet weather.
One parent, Hazel Fear, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It’s such a shame that when so much money has been spent on building this wonderful play area, it is now in such a poor state.”
“My three year old, Morgan, slipped up and fell face-first into the mud and several other children have been having problems too.”
“The mud has also been tracked onto some of the play equipment, in turn making it slippery and dirty.”
She added: “The sponge flooring that is in place around some of the equipment needs to be extended across the whole site so everything is weather-proofed.”
“We also need fences introduced around all the play equipment to avoid dog mess being left where the children play. Some action from the council is urgently needed here.”
Burnham-On-Sea.com contacted Sedgemoor District Council regarding the issues and spokeswoman Claire Faun admitted: “There are some teething problems with the newly-opened play area within Apex Park.”
She added: “Sedgemoor District Council is aware that there are some problems with mud and pooling. Once the ground is less saturated, the contractors will return to re-turf and survey for any other problems that need remediation.”
“It is usual for areas such as these to have a ‘settling-in’ period and that any snagging problems are dealt with as and when they arise. It is counter-productive to deal with these problems whilst the ground is still so wet.”
The new play area was funded by a £60,000 grant from the National Lottery, plus £73,462 from developer contributions, and £6,538 from Sedgemoor District Council.
