AIBU to think nursery staff should not cordon off a public playground?

Where did I say that what the dog walkers were doing was illegal? Anti social and venturing heavily into cf territory yes, but illegal ?

If people want to walk large packs of their own dogs in the park off lead that’s up to them if the dogs run off or crap. I would want someone being paid to walk my dog to do so responsibly.

Is that in the UK?

Where I live there are actually by laws on how many dogs you can have in a public place as well as needing to always be able to produce a poo bag of requested. Commercial
dogwalkers complain about this.

Yes, I would also have removed the ropes!

I know people who have lots of dogs that they own.
How is walking a big pack of your own dogs different to someone who is doing it as a business?

Can you post what legislation bans dog walkers from using public parks? Or just admit you are making things up.

My point is that they are using a public area to run their business for free and potentially damaging it/ causing inconvenience to other users. Just as the nursery were using a public space for their own ends, and the boot camp were taking over a public space. Public spaces are not up for commercial gain otherwise every park in the country would be plastered with hot dog stalls, people selling kids toys, home made cakes, hand knitted tea cosies, t shirts etc………..

Public parks are for everyone. A dog walker is not reserving bits of it to walk dogs. If they are not picking up poo, then that is on them.

They are CF. I remember a thread on here where OP wanted to sit at a bench in a park, and some CF parent had put tape on all the benches as they were going to have a party for their child.

It’s a bit like dog walkers using public parks for free to walk the dogs they are being paid to look after. Some of the dw in my local park * have up to 7 to 10 dogs. They can’t possibly keep track of all the pooing so unless someone spots one of their charges having a crafty crap and asks them to pick it up they are wandering through a public space trailing dog poo and wee behind them. It’s an area used widely for organised football at the weekend. I would also worry if my dog was with them, a lot of the dogs are off lead and although they always look well behaved something could spook them and they would be off.

I have no objection to people walking their own dogs there btw, but if you are running a business it’s a bit different. Cab drivers don’t rock up to garages and demand free fuel, cafe owners don’t expect Tesco to donate tea, coffee beans and oat milk to them.

*Just to make it clear it is not exactly a city park , it is a huge expanse of what was once a forested area, now owned and run by a very wealthy city corporation but tied up with water tight covenants so it can never be built on and commercial use is very strictly restricted.

I'd agree with them during a school term if permission was granted, not during school holidays.

@Prancingpickle who told you it is perfect legal to block off areas of a park? We take quite regular enforcement action against commercial companies (I.e any nursery) who does this without a licence agreement and full insurances being provided. It invalidates council insurance.

How do you *block " areas of the park?

Id have moved the weights to the grass.

A lot of properties you can visit the grounds for free and only have to pay to go in the house or whatever.

I’d speak to the park owners (it’s mandatory to have their details on a sign in the park). Attaching items to fences, locking gates, adding random ropes to the playgroup would all breach ROSPA inspection rules and wouldn’t be allowed.

several boot camps started using my local park. Didn’t want to go on the wet grass
so they would set up on the carpark or take over the only path for their sprints, glaring, tutting and forcing you out the way if you tried to use the path to walk on. They’d use another section of path to lay out weights so you’d have to hop over them if you didn’t want to go on the grass yourself. They would also attach bungees to playground equipment and fences then run forward using the bungee as resistance. They would make use of the carpark not being used for tyre pulls for parking their own cars and use the toilets there too. The leader would also bring a boom
box and play loud music. On the one hand it’s great to exercise and this is how Joe Wicks got started. On the other, this was a business making profit .Not a nursery but the same principle of using public resources for private gain for the detriment of other public users.

That's crackers. Id have removed the ropes.

That is not on. If they want to cherry pick areas then they should build their own. No problem them using it and I understand being safe, but maybe their own would suit better.

Check the park bye-laws which should be on the council website. There are often restrictions on people using the park to run a business (tennis coaches using public courts for example)

I’d actually be putting in an email complaint to the council and copying in the nursery!! I don’t think it’s on and not sure if it’s even allowed in a public place.

we have a local nursery that often use our local parks and they don’t do any of that nonsense. Their kids in high vis so they be counted easily.

As a teacher and also a brownie leader I’ve taken kids to public parks and we have to factor that into the risk assessments. There are ways to mitigate risk and that’s not one of them.

It doesn’t matter what their ‘risk assessment’ says. It’s a public play area and not for them to commandeer. The risk assessment should take into account the fact that they can’t legitimately section off areas. Not a great deal to be done if you don’t know what nursery it was though. Did they arrive on foot? If so I’d assume it was really close by, if that helps. If you can find out how it was I’d contact the manager.

Completely out of order

If it happens again, you could tell the staff that if another kid tried climbing on the equipment and tripped/fell/hurt themselves because they got caught up in a rope put there by nursery staff, the nursery is more than likely to be liable, and in those circumstances, their insurance would almost certainly not cover them. If they don't have enough staff to use the playground as it was designed and installed, they shouldn't take the children there.

I would talk to the health and safety officer at your local Council- I'm not sure a businesses health and safety policy overrides public access- you need an expert opinion.