Ladden Gardens Play Area Fiasco

If you were planning a new play area on the new development in north Yate, would you put it within 30m of the existing well loved play area in the current park, Brinsham Fields?  Well that is what the planners are insisting the developers do. Instead of using the money to put more equipment in the current play area, they are insisting they build a new one just yards away - which means money gets wasted on unnecessary fencing, bins etc, when they could use that money in the existing fenced play area to put in more equipment.  It will mean a teenage kickabout area being with 30 m of houses.

But don't blame the developers. They were willing to talk to the Friends of the Park and the Town Council who run the park about a better solution. But S Glos officials were insisting it had to be separate.

Yesterday, the Friends of the Park, and Cllrs Chris Willmore and Mike Drew took the issue to the highest level, at South Gloucestershire Strategic Sites Committee. They showed officials and councillors the problems, they asked for them simply to agree to come to the negotiating table to find a better solution.

South Gloucestershire refused. They insisted on ploughing ahead and giving the green light to this crazy situation. Lib Dem and Labour Councillors voted for Mike Drew's proposal to get everyone round a table to sort it out. But the Tories, none of whom live anywhere near Yate pushed through the officer recommendation. 

The Friends of the Park raise money from all sorts of sources to improve our park, to see money being wasted just yards away is disappointing. We still hope we can work with the developers to get around this crazy mess.

(Picture: The red mark is the play area S Glos is insisting the developers put in, the blue one is the current play area in the park, which has lots of space for more equipment)