Councillor's concern over "appallingly neglected playpark"

Councillor Daniel Coleman for Strathmartine Ward, says that “appalling neglect” has led to a playpark in his ward being closed. There is no sign of the council doing anything to upgrade and open it for local children in the St Mary’s, Downfield and West Kirkton areas.  

The playpark on St Leonard Place has been closed long-term and is in very poor condition with missing swings, damaged surface and an overflowing bin. The playpark is very close to St Andrew’s RC Primary School and near to housing in St Mary’s, Downfield and West Kirkton, where there are many families with children.

Councillor Coleman first raised the poor state of the playpark shortly after he was elected in 2022.    The then Service Manager for Environment at Dundee City Council responded in December 2022:
“I can confirm that the play area in question has been closed for a number of months.   This decision was not taken lightly and intended as cooling off period following repeated and sustained vandalism incidents including damage to equipment, safety surfacing and daily incidents of broken glass.”
“Having reviewed this further I can confirm that outstanding repairs to the equipment and rubber safety surfacing shall be completed as soon as temperatures allow, unfortunately the repairs to the rubber surface cannot be carried out until the temperature is at a minimum of 8/10 degrees Celsius.” 
“Once these works are complete we shall re open the play area and monitor regularly, if similar vandalism incidents re occur we will have no alternative to close the area once again.”
Councillor Coleman said:
“I actually also raised the state of the playpark at the Neighbourhood Services Committee at the time and it is really disappointing that, two years down the line, the council still has this playpark in such poor condition and closed to local children.”
“It sort of sums up the malaise that the council is in after 15 years of the SNP administration where nothing seems to work anymore.   Earlier this summer, I highlighted the neglect of parts of Camperdown Park and the dreadful state of the St Leonard Place playpark just adds to the concern about neglect of the public environment and local facilities.”  
“It also makes a nonsense of SNP Scottish Government claims it will upgrade every playpark in Scotland during the current parliamentary term.”

Councillor Coleman said he was continuing to pursue the matter with council officers, adding:
“It makes me rather sad to see the dreadful condition of the St Leonard Place playpark as I regularly used the playpark as a child.”
“I am not giving up on getting this playpark upgraded and reopened and continue to pursue the matter with environment management.    The playpark needs to be repaired and reopened with adequate security arrangements in place to avoid any vandalism going forward.”
Local LibDem campaigner for Strathmartine, Jenny Blain, added:
“We need new impetus on environment management on Dundee City Council to improve our parks and playparks but also to deal with other environment issues around the cleanliness of our streets and also bins and recycling.”