Town council defends ‘unreliable’ park splashpad

MELKSHAM Town Council has responded to criticism that the splashpad in King George V Playing Fields is ‘unreliable’ and is ‘closed more than it is open’. 

Since opening for the season in May, the splashpad – which is located next to the new play area and the pavilion – has been closed on 16 occasions for various reasons, including technical difficulties, isolating staff, inclement weather, and staff shortages. 

Most recently, the splashpad was closed on Saturday 21st August due to staff self-isolating; on Sunday 22nd August it closed early because of technical difficulties and remained closed until Tuesday 24th August. 

“At this point is it not easier to provide updates as to when it’s open?” asked one local resident online. 

Another concerned resident told Melksham News, “It feels like the new town council is more concerned with saving money, rather than delivering services to the town that it deserves. We have the last few days of the summer holiday and the promise of good weather ahead, but will the splashpad be open?!” 

“It’s an amazing facility that is just being allowed to go to waste – bad management of the facility, just trying to save money rather than serving the public,” added another local. 

In response to the concerns, the town council has apologised for any inconvenience caused, and has promised to “strive to mitigate” the occurrence of the closures. 

A spokesperson for the town council said, “Every time our amenity staff decide to close the splashpad it is a suboptimal solution that we would prefer to avoid, and we absolutely sympathise with residents who are left disappointed on any given occasion that they unexpectedly encounter a closed splashpad with children in tow.   

“We make every effort to communicate any closures via the Facebook page in order to mitigate this inconvenience, but we appreciate that not all visitors will have checked (or have access to) this page before setting out to King George V Playing Fields.   

“We apologise to everyone who has been caught out in this way. However proud we are of the new kids’ play area situated alongside the splashpad (which can be used in these situations to prevent a wasted journey at the very least) we also appreciate how hard it is to change tack when children have their hearts set on a specific activity. 

“One of the flipsides of offering transparent, real-time updates to residents via Facebook when our amenities close unexpectedly is that it creates a natural space for people to voice disapproval about such breaks in service, which is both understandable and to be expected.   

“We too would like to see the splashpad open every day of the season.  However, any assertion that the splashpad is closed more than it is open is plainly false. On the contrary, of the 120+ days since the summer season began on 1 May, the splashpad has been closed on less than 20 occasions. 

“We will continue to strive to mitigate the occurrence of all these events wherever we can and hope that we can decrease the number of closures during the 2022 splashpad season.” 

Explaining the reasons behind the recent closures, the town council’s spokesperson listed the following:- 

“Technical difficulties – Our splashpad operates by using a recirculating water system.  This design was chosen as opposed to a grey-water system (where water from the mains simply goes down the drain) in order to save water and lessen the environmental impact of the resource.  This was debated at length by Melksham Town councillors when selecting a design.  The primary downside of such a system is that it requires staffing, and regular chemical checks on the water circulating through the system, much like a leisure centre swimming pool.  Examples of technical difficulties include the dosing machine malfunctioning, electrical issues (such as tripping overnight), problems with drainage and chemical imbalances. 

“Isolating staff – We have been remarkably unaffected by staff who have been ‘pinged’ and asked to self-isolate.  However, it has happened on one or two occasions, at short notice.  Because operating the splashpad requires certification to STA level 3, it is not always simple to find a replacement member of the team to step in.  

“Inclement weather and staff shortages – Sustained strong winds cause a problem because if too much water is blown outside of the usual drainage, the chemical balance of the water becomes too concentrated and presents a risk to users.  The onset of thunder and/or lightening is a cause for immediate closure.   

“In other cases, the amenity team is forced to make a decision early in the day to close the splashpad because of a combination of forecasted poor weather, staff shortages and other high-priority work.   

“In May and June for instance, we lost two members of our team during the height of the growing season, and so on cool, wet days, a decision had to be made to dedicate staff to the splashpad, where only a handful of residents may turn up, or to focus that staff member on cutting back overgrown shrubs, grass-cutting, litter picking and/or bin emptying. These are unenviable decisions to make. 

 “Bathroom events, etc – Any faecal matter, blood or vomit entering the water system is an immediate risk to health and requires immediate closure so the system can be completely flushed out and re-balanced, with the correct balance of chemicals, in exactly the same way as with a swimming pool.”