Vandals Break Oakham's New Play Equipment
A letter has been published in the Rutland Times 'Congratulations all round to those involved in the new play equipment at Royce Park.'
'It was an excellent choice of equipment by the town council.'
(The equipment was chosen by the children and their families)
The large swing has now been broken twice by groups of local teenagers, the first time within three days of being open, the second time within three days of having been repaired.
(Sadly the swing was never designed for 30 young people to use at the same time)
The swing seat has again been removed for repair. We now have an art installation of a three-arch metal structure with chains.
(The Swing is beyond repair this time Kompan as a good will guesture will replace it free this time, in future it looks like the local tax payer will have to foot the bill)
Another excellent choice was the large blue raised stage/dance area cum target for children to throw rocks at (Oh sorry apparently that is a container used by the contractors that remains on site three weeks after they left.) Surely somebody, either the council or the contractors, should have had this removed.
(I spoke to Oakham Town Council this morning, it appears Rutland County Council have not responded to the Town Council request to store new play equipment destined for Cutts Close, The Town Clerk is currently on sick leave and his assistant is chasing this up now.)
Other than that, the rest of the equipment is very good. The only downside is that people don't seem to use the bins.
(There are many bins in the area and yes the writer is correct they are rarely used some day's you would think the street and play area was the litter bin. I have witnessed adults as well as young people dropping litter. unfortunately I don't think Rutland County Council has any bylaws regarding litter, I guess this is why they don't employ enforcement officers. The littering of the County is a huge problem, I have spoken to litter pickers who clean the layby's beside the A1. the spend up to 2 hours a day clearing litter. They provide their bosses with before and after photographs as the men in suits did not think they were doing the job correctly. I am not sure where they think they collected the daily truck load of litter from?)
Probably the local schools could run workshops on how to use a bin, although I would miss watching my council tax being spent on two or three men spending anywhere up to an hour collecting the litter some days.
(fortunately the Town Council pays a flat fee for litter picking. Also Cllr Joyce Lucas unpaid clears up every day. Parents could play a role in this. When I was a child I was told to bring the litter home and then told off for forgetting to take the litter out of my pockets on wash day!)
