Petition to fix park as parents take children out of town to play

COUNCILLORS in Melksham have collected hundreds of signatures on a petition to hand control of King George V Park over to the town so it can be upgraded.

Spearheaded by town councillors Jon Hubbard, Adrienne Westbrook and Hayley Spencer, the petition has garnered around 300 signatures in the past two weeks.

There are growing concerns about the state of the park; last year the paddling pool was declared unsafe and emptied for good, and a five year-old girl was injured when a swing broke.

This petition calls on Wiltshire Council to allow Melksham Town Council to take responsibility for the park and start improving the play area.

“The park is appalling because there hasn’t been any investment in it,” cllr Westbrook told Melksham News. “The play equipment is 20 years out of date and Wiltshire Council won’t do anything about it. The town council has money set aside for the park but we can’t use it until we get a lease.

“We hope this petition will get the Area Board on our side and enable us to have a meaningful discussion with Wiltshire Council about transferring the park to us. Until now they have told us they’re ‘too busy’, which is unacceptable.”

Local people supporting the petition have said it is vital for the town, and some say they go as far as taking their children to other towns to go to a park.

King George V is the biggest public park in Melksham and attracts thousands of people to annual events including Party in the Park, the Food and River Festival, and children’s fun days in the summer – as well as being busy with families using the popular park facilities.

Amid budget cuts Wiltshire Council has shown signs it is struggling to afford to maintain parks. The county council said last year that it would no longer pay to maintain the paddling pool because it needs to be replaced, while a park in Westbury was closed for weeks in the summer when Wiltshire Council said it couldn’t afford to do a repair reported to cost £150.

James Stapleton wrote, “Melksham park has so much potential. But currently wouldn’t even consider taking my children there. You only have to look at Devizes and John Coles park in Chippenham to see how a park should be operated. The town of Melksham really needs this for future generations.”

Jennifer Cleere added, “I live in Melksham, I have 3 children, currently I’d rather use parks in neighbouring towns than use our own. This needs to change.”

Sign the petition online by searching ‘Melksham park’ at www.change.org