Playgrounds not reopening

[SnowdropSurprise]

The playgrounds in our town haven't reopened this weekend. I was wondering if any councils had gone ahead and opened them?

Our council said they needed more time to prepare. Not sure what preparations they mean. Gel dispensers? Closing off some equipment?

Anyone have any ideas?

I didn't realise some had actually been fenced off and locked. Our village facebook group just had a post saying, 'please follow govt guidance and don't use the play equipment.' The rest of the park was still open.

I felt really cross today... Cjesing2world of adventures open... Pubs open... Our little parks padlocked. My kids didn't want to jump the fence but i told them it was ok now wondering if i have admitted breaking rules is ok...

The government guidance has been written in such a way that it advises councils to do lots of unrealistic things but allows them to do the bare minimum (like our parish council which has opened playgrounds but advised hand and pissing off if it's busy). I'm sure it's been written this way deliberately to allow places to open playgrounds but some councils are taking every suggestion literally and refusing to open.

It looked like one of our borough's was still shut when we drove past. Outside gym equipment still had fences round it & when I looked on the council website yesterday & didn't find any info.
The parish council one 200m outside the border was open not even a sign up about Covid and not a soul there. My 2 had a great time. Tbh it might have never been closed - we haven't been down there since pre-lockdown.

Ours are having problems with insurers, unless they are wiped down at high touch areas the insurers won’t insure the playground.

@Ohchristmastreeohchristmastree - FFS, that's just silly. Ask the underwriter how they expect anyone to prove that a particular child caught coronavirus at the swings due to such negligence that they could actually be sued. Suggest a weekly wipe-down and a sign saying they are not being cleaned so all users or their guardians must use hand gel and wash hands when they get home. Point them at the many local authorities who've taken exactly this approach (you can search the outer London boroughs for examples).

Those guidelines listed above are clearly OTT
But that’s what the government has written in their guidelines! It’s clearly unrealistic to expect councils to provide cleaning, stewards, online booking systems - our council doesn’t even have the money to get signs printed. And the government guidance says if the council gets it wrong and causes a public health hazard the maximum penalty is two years imprisonment! Would you take that risk? Or just keep your playgrounds closed? Thankfully the government has admitted the guidelines are shit and they’re rewriting them. So lots of councils are just waiting to see what the new guidelines say.

Could it not just be that it's Saturday and there's nobody working to take the padlock off/fencing down?

@manicinsomniac

Could it not just be that it's Saturday and there's nobody working to take the padlock off/fencing down?

No, the council has made an announcement that they "need more time to plan". They've had weeks

I follow a village page for somewhere outside of my area. In this area the district allows the parish councils to decide whether to reopen. I know of one in particular that said and shared its risk assessment and as they couldn't meet the needs of the guidelines didn't open. Perhaps larger councils are less fearful of repercussions with their bigger budgets? I think they won't 'get away with it' for much longer, you can't keep kids out of a park if you decide to open pubs and expect to keep the public on your side! As parents, we are already making choices everyday on the risks to our children, we need to be trusted on this!

Our council says:
“It is wonderful news that the play areas can officially open on 4th July 2020
We will be giving them a thorough inspection in the week leading up to the reopening to make sure that they are safe to use.
We need to remind everyone to keep the social distancing as much as possible, bring your own hand sanitiser with you and wash your hands when you get home.
We are expecting the play areas to be busier than normal to begin with. We want to appeal to people to keep their visits short so that everyone gets a chance to play and if a play area is really busy then please come back at a quieter time.“

Last Updated 24th June 2020

Mine are open, seen 4 council ones open today. Still no toilets though. Doing the inevitable in a bush in a public park is obviously so much more hygienic.

Parish village playground still had a bolt on the front gate, but the back gate has been unsecured for a while.

I actually passed one playground as it was having the lock cut off and cried with happiness and said to the chap how happy I was to see him doing it. There were already children playing before he'd released the second gate.

Just stick some health advice on the gates and let people manage it themselves for goodness sake.

Ours aren't open. But the weather has been too crap to care.

I think there needs to come a point where it is the responsibility of the people using the facilities/equipment/whatever it may be. It can't always be someone else's responsibility to clean and police everything.

They should just open parks and have a sign on the gate reminding people to respect social distancing rules, and ensure they bring some antibacterial wipes and hand gel to ensure it's safe to use. Councils can't be expected to keep these areas clean and life needs to start going back to normal wherever it is possible.

Scotland parks opened in phase 2 - which only started on Monday. Social distancing is impossible in a play park...and then the Government here announced that under 12s don't need to socially distance from one another outside anyway

All of the parish council near me have opened the playgrounds. They’ve all done it on an ‘at your own risk’ basis and have asked parents to take hand gel and come back later if it’s too busy. I was worried they wouldn’t when I saw the guidance but I think they’ve taken a sensible decision and have thought of the children and their needs. I’m really pleased and we’ll be going tomorrow.

@Periodprob

This is like a different world! Play areas here don't have fences big enough to deter children, so they've been pretty busy for a week or so now! The fence is waist height, big ones help the little ones over...quite sweet to see!

It's ridiculous that they've been closed for so long, kids need to play outdoors. Yes I know they can climb trees etc but a range of activities makes it more fun and encourages them out into the fresh air. Childhood obesity is a real problem, we need to be doing everything we can to encourage them to move.

We haven't been out today so no idea if they've unlocked the gates or not, but I'd be very surprised if they're not as busy as usual.

The council have been periodically disabling the zipwire with cable ties, so the organised mums are making sure to take scissors. If they really wanted the kids to leave it alone they'd have removed the seat!

They did strip anything they could in a big play area in my next authority over

Swingless swings and zipwires.
Metal fencing chained and padlocked around things like roundabouts.

The tape on the outdoor gym for adults was ripped off easily enougb though. That was gone weeks ago

Ours local parish run playparks are open. They suggest one adult per child (we're sorted then as we have 5 dc!) and sanitise your hands before use.
We went to a local shopping centre today and we're surprised to see their play area shut though, along with nearly all the restaurants. It was absolutely heaving though, like early December crowds kinda heaving, so we only went in 3 shops then came home.

I agree bogroll our local play area is in an open field (so no fences) with a football/basketball court, outdoor gym and picnic area. Seeing as we've been able to go there for weeks and sit at a picnic table and eat and drink, which involves constantly putting our hands to our mouths, it seemed insane that kids can't sit on a swing.
There's also a giant sandpit and once we were allowed down the beach to play in the sand - whats the difference? Besides no sea in sight. Needless to say people have been playing in it over the last 2 weeks. Playareas have been shut far too long imo

Ours are all open today (zone 3) - people have been hopping the fence and using them for weeks though.

We went to our quieter local one today and DD(3) had a lovely time.

The sign on the gate (which I'll admit I didn't look at until it was too late) requested that you wipe down, with antibacterial wipes, every bit of equipment before and after using it. This seems utterly impractical to me and yet more encouragement to use disposable wipes. Any cares for the environment seem to have been entirely cast aside.

We sanitised hands before going in and thoroughly washed hands and changed clothes when we got home.

I've told DD that we can go once a week but if it's ever busy when we turn up that we won't be able to go in.

There I’d a whole raft of information available on the gov.uk website. Lots of small parish councils are not opening up playgrounds as they simply can’t comply with the guidelines

No, the council has made an announcement that they "need more time to plan". They've had weeks
Basically councils need more time for the government to withdraw the guidelines that are unfit and reissue them. Everyone is waiting for the new guidelines. They can’t plan on the basis of existing guidelines which the government have already said are being withdrawn.