Anger as council covers over playground

Walsall council has removed play equipment, ripped down fencing, and covered the soft rubber protective surface with tarmac next to Sure Start Blakenall & Valley Children's Centre.

Bloxwich East Councillor Kath Phillips said the tarmacking of the playground came as a 'complete surprise'.

She said: "We are absolutely outraged by this and the parents of children who used the playground are furious.

"There was no consultation, no warning or anything that this was going to happen.

"One day it was there and the next the fencing and the equipment all went and tarmac went down.

"It was a complete surprise.

"If we had known we would have campaigned to save it.

"The council said it was costing too much to inspect and maintain. Had they told us we would have tried to form a friends group and looked at keeping it open.

"It is appalling that they have done this and it is the children who suffer."

The playground's removal emerged as Labour's shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh was in Walsall to champion leader Ed Miliband's new policy to give 25 hours-a-week free childcare aimed at getting 135,000 mums back into employment or work extra hours.

She said: "I think it is shocking that the Tory-run Walsall Council has done this which is a shocking waste of public money for an authority that needs to save £25 million this year. Play areas are an important community asset for families facing a cost-of-living crises."

The authority, which needs to save £100 million over the next five years, has budgeted to save £49,000 from playground maintenance as part of its budget cuts.

Nigel Ilsley, Greenspace improvement service co-ordinator, said: "The park was put in a number of years ago by New Deal and was not in a particularly good condition when it was handed back to the council.

"As part of a review of its future, and the amount of investment needed to bring it up to an acceptable standard, it was decided that this work was not cost effective particularly in light of the fact that alternative play facilities are available a short walk away at Leamore Park."

The tarmacked playground is the latest in a series of controversies after it was revealed the council is spending a further £10,000 on its car park outside the Council House to relocate a flag pole just months after it shelled out £32,000 on resurfacing the same car park.

The authority also faced a barrage of criticism for shelling out £50,000 for a new Jaguar XJ to transport the mayor to civil functions.