Town council admits ‘oversight’ of play park towers’ height requirements

Melksham Town Council has admitted to an ‘oversight’ in failing to check the legal height requirements of the towers in the newly built Awdry Avenue play park.

The Awdry Avenue play park, which has cost £74,000, has been refurbished to include a range of new equipment and features for children to enjoy.

However, ahead of the park’s opening on Saturday 1st March, the play towers have undergone works to be scaled-down because they were 80cm too high. The town council has said was due to a ‘council and contractor oversight.’

Melksham News asked the town council why the height requirements were not checked at the planning stage and why the contractor did not flag this issue before the towers were built. A spokesperson for the town council said, “The planning was checked however, there was a misunderstanding of the interpretation.”

The play park refurbishment has been funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a government grant for local authorities to invest in communities.

The further works to the towers have cost £3,000 but the town council has said there was ‘no additional cost’ to the taxpayer because the funds to pay for the works were taken from the grant.

Melksham News has asked the town council if the ‘oversight’ means there is now less funding to spend on the equipment. The authority has denied this, despite the fact that funds were taken from the government grant to correct the error.

This inspection followed February’s community development meeting, where a resident requested the town council remove the turrets because they overlook her parents’ house.

During the meeting, the deputy clerk confirmed she would make another site visit but the design would not allow the turrets to be removed.