Playgrounds

[MrsWarleggan]

Playgrounds are now officially allowed to be open..... I live on a new build estate with lots of little parks.. Quick to chain them up, not so quick to unchain them. DD5 is desperate to go to the park. AIBU to lift and climb over the gates?

Should add, not in an area with local restrictions!

Don't unchain them.

Contact whoever runs them and request to know why they aren't open.

Then publicly shame whoever runs them.

It's been 4 months, waiting a few more days to for the council to sort it out can't hurt. Don't think you should teach a child that circumventing barriers/locked areas etc. is a good thing either.

@Remotely it’s not a few days though
Weren’t playgrounds allowed to open 4th July?

@Remotely

It's been 4 months, waiting a few more days to for the council to sort it out can't hurt. Don't think you should teach a child that circumventing barriers/locked areas etc. is a good thing either.

How do you know it’s going to be a few days? Ours didn’t reopen either when they were permitted to either.I emailed the parish council and they said they were too busy . They were finally reopened last weekend.

None of the playgrounds locally opened straight away, as the council who was responsible, has to check each one first to ensure they were safe for the kids.

YANBU to contact whoever is in charge and ask, but YABU to think you have a right to ignore the rules. If a faulty piece of equipment injures your child, how happy would you be.

I emailed the parish council and they said they were too busy
fair enough, playgrounds are hardly a priority.

Ours opened today. Was glorious. Don't jump the chains the equipment hasn't been safety checked yet.

Put it on their fb page and climb over. There's no reason not to.

@SantaClaritaDiet, playgrounds should be a priority.

[quote Greentea93]@Remotely it’s not a few days though
Weren’t playgrounds allowed to open 4th July?[/quote]
Oh yes you're right.

In that case, apart from the council being slow the only thing to assume is they risk assessed these "little" parks (OPs words) and found them to be too small/difficult to administrate to open? There's a bunch of guidance on how to RA outside space on the gov website before opening.

Either way I stand by YABU to go in when the areas are chained off.

If you're that desperate just try to contact the council directly.

They’ve got to safety check them (and possibly clean them)
If you climb over the gates and you or your child is injured by a faulty piece of equipment you will have only yourself to blame

This makes me mad:-(. Playgrounds should be a priority, kids need to play and be active, they need life to be going on as normal. Our children should be being prioritised. We should all be angry that they are not being prioritised:-(.

Ours all had to have safety checks first; I would be tempted to do the same but I wouldn’t because most likely they need to be checked

@SantaClaritaDiet

I emailed the parish council and they said they were too busy fair enough, playgrounds are hardly a priority.

Well they should be. Children haven’t been able to go to school/extra curricular activities or play properly with their friends for months and months. At least give them playgrounds. Anyway ours are open now. It’s great.

@Nixen

They’ve got to safety check them (and possibly clean them) If you climb over the gates and you or your child is injured by a faulty piece of equipment you will have only yourself to blame

Realistically what is the likelihood of that happening though? The equipment hasnt been used for 4 months so how will it have become damaged? A slide cant be "faulty" in a dangerous way without it being bloody obvious. OP just do it, give the equipment a quick check before your child uses each one.

YUNBU, ours are open but still no swings in place. Inner city kids especially need exercise and play!

HAve you seen the guidelines they are supposed to follow as the virus can live in the items. It may well be that your council has decided they can’t afford to keep cleaning the equipment, or make sure SD takes place etc

@Chloemol

HAve you seen the guidelines they are supposed to follow as the virus can live in the items. It may well be that your council has decided they can’t afford to keep cleaning the equipment, or make sure SD takes place etc

Ours have just put a sign up saying to wash your hands before and after use and maintain appropriate social distancing. That’s all they’re obligated to do.

This happened on my parents new build estate. The parish council will not ‘adopt’ the playground so The management committee of the estate have to run and insure. They may not feel confident to do this as they are essentially just a random group of people and not necessarily trained in risk assessments etc or they may fee nervous about making the decision.
If it is closed don’t go lifting your child in, there will be no insurance. Also it is setting a bad example for your child.

[quote Ponoka7]@SantaClaritaDiet, playgrounds should be a priority.[/quote]
why? There's plenty you can find to entertain children at that age. Playgrounds are usually restricted to the youngest children (fair enough), so if there are enough parks and places to entertain older ones, you can find places to go!

It's especially amusing as many playgrounds have been completely deserted when it was raining and are never that busy. you only need to close something to make it a priority.

Since unlimited outdoor exercise is allowed in England, the amount of people actually exercising has dropped drastically too

It's especially amusing as many playgrounds have been completely deserted when it was raining and are never that busy. you only need to close something to make it a priority

Mine are 6, 5 and 1. We go to the playground at the end of our road practically every day in ‘normal’ times. It was hard with them closed.
Exercised every day pre Covid, throughout lockdown and still do now. Only difference in lockdown was that my gym was shut and usual classes weren’t running so had to exercise more ‘visibly’ (running etc).

I'd lift mine over. Just watch if there's grass that hasn't been maintained though as there's a risk of ticks with all the long uncut grass these days.