Thursday 28 June 2018

LBHF Demolishes Climbing Frames in Hammersmith Park

Climbing Frame - demolished in March
Local parents who take their children to play in Hammersmith Park will be aware that both of the toddler climbing frames were removed in February and March of this year.

Four months later our children have nowhere to play, and our Council still have no concrete plans on what to put in their place. 

LBHF say that the climbing frames were dangerous, and had to be removed immediately.

Also demolished in March
According to Ullash Karia, Head of Parks:

"this was due to extreme levels of rot and holes visible in the decking. The unit had become dangerous and could not be maintained in-situ any further. Many of the structural components of Unit B were also failing with rot to many of the support beams. The removal of this unit was marked as critical by our safety inspectors and could not remain in place from a H&S point of view due to the risk of causing a serious incident, this unit was removed at the beginning of February. Due to the critical nature of both units and the immediate requirement for removal we were unable to liaise with local residents on the issue."

It's hard to argue with the experts, but my children played on the climbing frames regularly, as did those of other local parents, and there was no danger that I could see. If there was a danger, it was a danger that was well-concealed. 

It is frustrating that our children have nowhere to play, and there are no immediate plans to replace the climbing frames.  The example of Wormholt Park, where local parents had to wait seven years for the playground to be replaced (by which time their children had grown up), is not a promising one.

Repairs to the climbing mounds took 18 months
If history is any guide, it will probably take the Council between one and two years to replace the climbing frames.

It took LBHF 18 months to repair the damaged climbing mounds in Hammersmith Park, a repair which could surely have been done over a few days.

If you'd like to see something done about our parks, the people to contact are:

Local Councillors 
Councillor Guy Vincent: H&F  Guy.Vincent@lbhf.gov.uk 
Cllr Perez Natalia: H&F  Natalia.Perez@lbhf.gov.uk

Parks Managers
Ian Ross, Parks Manager for LBHF and RBKC:  Ian.Ross@rbkc.gov.uk
Alice O'Mahoney - Parks Officer in LBHF and RBKC. Alice.O'Mahony@lbhf.gov.uk
Ullash Karia - Head of Leisure & Parks in LBHF & RBKC  Ullash.Karia@rbkc.gov.uk

---Alex

The Shepherd's Bush Blog offers a personal view on life in Shepherd's Bush. If you would like to contribute a story about our neighbourhood, email us at shepherdsbushblog(at)gmail.com. And don't forget to leave your views in the comments section below. 

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