Can I use the playground of a council estate if we don't live there?

[Mummy1608]

Quick question...

I live right outside a really big council estate. (Eg I walk through it everyday as a shortcut to my local train station, that's how close I am and how big it is.) It's got a lovely playground in it with lots of cool climbing bits etc. Can I go there with my DD or do you think it's frowned on if I don't live there, because it's meant to be for residents? I can't find anywhere whether this isn't allowed, but it might be technically allowed but still frowned on? My next nearest playground is much smaller (although always empty) and a 15 min walk away.

Tldr can I take my dd to the council estate playground?

So not only can we not use public playparks but we can't drive/walk through housing estates either?

This thread is fucking bonkers.

@HadaVerde

‘Bins belong to individual householders.

Apart from the large communal ones on housing estates.

Which incidentally people would drive into and fill up with their crap too.

Council estate parks are paid for by council tax. I pay council tax so i'll use the park thanks! Do you think the same goes for roads around council estates?!

I've spent a very fun afternoon questioning everyone who walks/drives down my road on why they are using it. I don't live on an estate, but as the roads on an estate are owned by the council, the same as my road, then I assume the same rules apply.
I'm also banning them from using 'my' postbox.

Anyway. On the subject of (play) parks. My dc are too old for the park now, but when they were small and wanted to go to the park/playpark/playground but when they were small we had the choice of

The little park by the river. This was a play park, no grass but a swing and small climbing frame.

The school park. A 'playpark' just outside their school which was closed to the public during school hours.

Palmer park. A big green space with playgrounds either side. We knew the play areas as "the park with the rolley slide" and "the big park with the sandpit".

And "the park we aren't allowed in". This was surrounded by a fence on 3 sides and a block of flats on the 4th. You could only access it from the flats so I assume it was for residents only.

But park to me could mean "big green space" or "playpark".

I would assume one for residents only would be locked in someway. Are shops on estates only for residents too?

@HadaVerde

A playground within the grounds of a council estate is for residents use.

A playground in a park or on a recreational field or similar is obviously for general public use.

Would you use the bins on a council estate too?

Have you just made this rule up 🤣

How has this thread even made 23 pages?
Yes you can use any public park you like. In fact I drive around the whole of my region taking my son to a variety of public play areas. Totally fine.

Some walkways on a council housing estate, and potentially some of the traffic access ,will likely not be normal public highway and, for example, the cleaning and lighting of these areas are paid for by the Housing Revenue Account held by the council. If you buy your council house, part of the charges you'll pay as a leaseholder will be for the cleaning and lighting of these areas. The general council tax pot does not pay for these. I wish people would stop saying this is public land as if it were perfectly straightforward! It's not regular public highway. But it's very rarely limited to prevent non resident access.

@OrangeShark27 the more I read of your replies to me the more I realise that we have different approaches to waste management.

Forget the tampons and the bathroom bin - I have one by the way. I sense you are a bit hung up on this but I'm past the menopause and it's positively freeing never having to think of sanpro - either buying, disposal or guilt over them bobbing around where surfers or dolphins might encounter them.

I would describe myself as a minimalist who uses a small pre-used bag which I hang behind the door of the kitchen cupboard and throw out every day. I may be wrong but in my mind's eye I see you as someone who stores her potato peelings and cheese wrappers for a number of days, perhaps in one of those smart chrome Brabantia bins with a foot pedal attachment and silent lid-closing mechanism.

There is nothing wrong with either of us. Every time I go in John Lewis I eye up those bins but tell myself: "No Limited. They are too fancy for the likes of you."

I suppose my problem is that I've never valued myself enough to own a bin whereas you are untroubled by such doubts. Don't knock it. I envy you.

It’s council property funded by council tax. As a council tax payer, you’ve paid for it, why shouldn’t you use it? If the council estate want only people who live there to use it they should pay for it separately on a surcharge to their council tax. I’m 100% sure they don’t.

@HadaVerde

Visiting friends who live there? Yes fine.

Using it cos it’s closer than another for public use playground? No of course it’s not ok.

I’m amazed people think this is ok.

You are bonkers

I think using parks and using bins are conpletly different lol. Using a public play park will not inconvenience anyone (unless your kid is a thug or spray paints the slide), neither will they wear out the facilities or cause extra money in resources. Using the bins causes inconvenience for residents, costs extra money to have extra waste removed and uses extra resources etc.

Using a public play park is perfectly acceptable. People on council estates can mix with middle classes without beating them up saying they can’t is just bonkers

I think it's lovely and conscientious of you to ask/check. I'm with the majority!

yes it's fine.. when ours were small used to travel all over for variety.....
eg

1. had massive tube slides
2. had a zipline
3. had a massive slide down a large hill (demolished sadly)

Public parks are for anyone to use. Visitors to the area might well use them. It’s the equivalent of a village Green - those who live locally and anyone passing through can use it. Parish Councils etc often provide them with the residents mostly in mind, but it’s understood they’re a public facility.

The only time I’ve seen one that wasn’t for public use was on a private housing estate. It was a large gated development built in the site of an old hospital with lovely grounds. The play park was meant to be for residents only and I think a sign said so. Due to being a gated development the public didn’t tend to enter, but some of the green spaces had a right if way. I think some members if the public did use the playground, but it wasn’t many and in reality, stopping them would have been impossible ir unenforceable.

Some parks are in busy and popular areas with lots of people passing through or visiting who don’t live in the area. Think of tourist hotspots. The residents might often find the play equipment is hard to get space on. That’s just tough luck to be honest. Residents can usually though work out which are quieter times and access it then. Living nearby gives no right to priority, in the same way living in a road gives no more property to park there than for any other car if it’s a public highway. Again, this causes lots of aggravation and annoyance, but that’s the reality.

Stuff paid for by the housing department for their housing residents is not paid for by the council tax pot. Why do people keep saying it is?! If you're doing this please can you point me to where you are getting your info from? I think lots of people here are making an assumption and asserting it as fact?!

@PuzzledObserver an older couple you met in church who provided a buffet of sanpro you say? I bet they had a Gideon bible in the bedside drawer. It's a staple in many hotels.

Yes. It's not specifically for the people who live there (unless there is a sign to the contrary).

If I'm a leaseholder on a council estate (as i own my own ex council home) I pay a service charge which includes upkeep of the communal areas of the estate, all of the land owned by the housing department, much of which is publicly accessible but it is not public highway. If there is a fly tip on this land, it is paid for via the service charges, not from the council tax pot (I also pay council tax like everyone else).
That's how the system works as far as I know and I think lots of people here are talking nonsense about public land and funding!

@HadaVerde

I know I’m a lone voice here but communal areas including playgrounds within social housing estates are for residents use and the general public ie non residents can be excluded.

They really aren’t for general public use.

Social housing is/was built using the taxes of the public (taxpayers), so they absolutely can be used by their owners (the public). Social housing is not owned by the people that live in them, they are just secure tenants. If a social housing property has been sold to a private investor then it is no longer social housing but private housing. Social housing and any playgrounds built in social housing is the property of the public. HTH.

@HadaVerde

Visiting friends who live there? Yes fine.

Using it cos it’s closer than another for public use playground? No of course it’s not ok.

I’m amazed people think this is ok.

What a bizarre thing to say!

Of course anyone can play in a public park?

@TomsPrisonConsultant

If I'm a leaseholder on a council estate (as i own my own ex council home) I pay a service charge which includes upkeep of the communal areas of the estate, all of the land owned by the housing department, much of which is publicly accessible but it is not public highway. If there is a fly tip on this land, it is paid for via the service charges, not from the council tax pot (I also pay council tax like everyone else). That's how the system works as far as I know and I think lots of people here are talking nonsense about public land and funding!

When I was a freeholder on a council estate (as I owned a former council house) I paid bugger all apart from my council tax. I wasn't excluded from any of facilities.

I'd have thought that such playgrounds would be designated for residents' use but that it wouldn't be enforced. Just because they are owned by the council doesn't make them public property - car parking is only for residents so why not the playgrounds.

Would people feel free to stroll along the communal walkways or set up a picnic in front of someone's property on account it's council-owned?

I'm talking about playgrounds within defined estates, not public parks which some people have brought into the mix.

@Westfacing

I'm talking about playgrounds within defined estates, not public parks which some people have brought into the mix.

Same thing. I had 2 parks (playgrounds) on the the council estates I've lived on. They were not for the use of the council estate residents. They were for everyone.

@HadaVerde

Visiting friends who live there? Yes fine.

Using it cos it’s closer than another for public use playground? No of course it’s not ok.

I’m amazed people think this is ok.

Of course it's ok. Do you actually live on an estate? I've never heard of anyone who does having an issue with it.

They're public property, put on the estate because there will likely be families nearby to use and need infrastructure and to build community. You're part of the community.