Hope offered to local park campaigners after closure fears

The threatened Ovington Drive playground has received a major lifeline after intervention by local Labour campaigners.

The playground had been closed on safety grounds by Sefton Council after a young girl broke her arm in Formby on play equipment of a similar age and design.

The Formby apparatus collapsed after corroding internally and forcing the decision on the Southport play park as a precautionary measure to avoid further injury.

The closure led to a petition being raised in opposition and a meeting with council officers and ward councillors had to be abandoned after details were leaked.

As a result, Liz Savage, Labour’s local parliamentary candidate in 2015 and ’17 and colleagues from Kew Ward of Southport Labour Party have spoken to local residents and then made representations to Sefton Council.

They’ve discovered that around £20,000 of ward funds are unspent in Kew and could be put towards the cost of refitting the playground. Liz Savage explained:

“With over £200m lost to Sefton since 2010 in budget cuts agreed by Conservatives and Liberal-Democrats, money to replace the equipment is obviously very tight. Ward funds are council funds but spent at the discretion of local ward councillors, so it will need the agreement of Kew Ward’s representatives to use them.”

The proposal will also mean a full consultation is carried out with local residents and Kew Woods Primary School to explore what facilities they would like to see re-installed.

The most expensive option is thought to be refurbishment on a like-for-like basis which is significantly higher than the ward funds at an estimated £50,000 or more.

If that was the option local residents decided upon, Sefton Council’s Leader, Ian Maher, has agreed to put in the extra money to save the playground if the Kew Ward funds also contributed to the project after discussions between Liz Savage and Sefton’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, Ian Moncur.

In an email announcing the council’s decision to her, Councillor Moncur stated:

“Community involvement is fundamental to this development and I know from what we discussed there are lots of ideas which can be explored further… but the most important thing I did want to confirm to you and residents is that there will definitely be a play facility retained on site if the Kew Ward Councillors will cooperate with us on this matter.”

Liz Savage described it as “a major step forward to save the playground” and commented:

“We are delighted to be able to find a solution for the residents. We urge their Liberal Democrat ward councillors, Mike Booth, Fred Weavers and David Pullin to co-operate with us to save the playground by agreeing to spend the ward funds on the Ovington Drive playground renovation.”

Details of the lifeline were released in an open letter to Kew residents which has been published on the Southport Labour website explaining the situation and asking them to contact their ward councillors in order to help save the playground.