WE are told it could have been worse. Originally Mansfield District Council had planned to close 12 play areas as a way of saving money, but the final number has been cut to seven. How do you put a positive spin on this?
The short answer is you can't. And the council must know that.
The amount to be saved is minuscule - a total of £12,000. Which equates to less than £5 per day, per play area in a full year.
And it is going to cost more than £10,000 to remove the
playgrounds, meaning that the council will only benefit fully from the saving in years to come.
It's a weak argument that such facilities are costly to maintain and underused.
Nobody is going to be attracted by run-down, unwelcoming facilities, no matter where they are situated and what they are for.
On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence to show that people do respond positively when efforts are made to find out what they would like and then try to cater for those needs.
And there is an important underlying issue here.
Open spaces to which the public have free access are precious and should be fiercely protected, regardless of whether or not they are designated as recreational areas.
The consequences of not doing are invariably detrimental once they become viewed as 'superfluous to requirements' and therefore prime spots for alternative use.
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