Swings, railings etc gone

[My login is Henrietta]

Surely it would be just as easy to email one of the local Councillors and ask them than to speculate on here.

Well, go on then.

[simonesaffron]

Surely it would be just as easy to email one of the local Councillors and ask them than to speculate on here.

[My login is Henrietta]

But I'm speaking generally here - personally I'd be very surprised (and disappointed) if SMBC were thinking of disposing of this community land that's been in their care for more than 100 years.

Incidentally, the Friends of Memorial Park restored and refurbished the two picnic benches on the Rec last year using money from Marple Area Committee. I would suggest that if we hadn't done this the benches would have been removed too. We also arranged for the water fountain to be cleaned by Karcher. What the Rec really needs is a Friends group of its own to take ownership and fight its corner.

I'd be very surprised (and disappointed) if SMBC were thinking of disposing of this community land that's been in their care for more than 100 years How quaintly naïve you are, my dear.

Incidentally, the Friends of Memorial Park restored and refurbished the two picnic benches on the Rec last year using money from Marple Area Committee. I would suggest that if we hadn't done this the benches would have been removed too. We also arranged for the water fountain to be cleaned by Karcher. What the Rec really needs is a Friends group of its own to take ownership and fight its corner.
Do you think the Friends of Memorial Park would be inclined to act in an advisory capacity in the setting up a "Friends of the Rec" group?

[My login is Henrietta]

I think you should encourage your "militant" child to write to the council - and as many other children as possible. When I was driving past the rec this afternoon it crossed my mind that the children should get together and lobby the council. Perhaps the local primary schools could take this up?

So they've left the picnic tables in situ? Big deal. If there is no play equipment what incentive will there be for families to go and picnic close to the road when there are other more suitable places? I tend to think that the rot set in when they closed the loos.

I'm not beyond conspiracy theory here. Remove the swings (because all swings are dangerous as proven by one accident to one child) then even fewer people will use the rec then obviously there is no need for it so we (ie SMBC) can appropriate it for a money making purpose.  

Ok, "Friends of the Rec"  it is then. Sign me up.

[Rudolph Hucker]

I'm obviously sorry to hear of a child having an accident in one of Stockport's play parks. However I'm also well aware that in my childhood, accidents happened, sometimes bones were broken (and in one instance a broken back and paralysis occurred), but we didn't look to blame the council. Accidents do unfortunately happen.

Playing on climbing frames, roundabouts and swings built on concrete with the occasional broken bottle taught us to hold on tighter - a lesson that's not done me any harm in later life (particularly as I'm probably not the most conventional of middle aged, middle class, middle Marple ;-)

My kids found out tonight that the swings have been taken down. They are incensed. They cannot understand why the swings were taken down (NB I doubt the swings were inspected and found to be structurally unsound - I'll wager there is some H&S booklet that says swings should not be on a chain more than 1.6 meters long and that was the reason for these swings being "deemed" unsafe. Why do I say that? Last years some wags had wound the swings round the top bar. Something I'm afraid we too used to do as youths. Sadly I don't have the core strength any more to unwind them for their uppermost position so I shinned up, sat on the crossbar, and unwould them manually. The bar was sound with decent paint coverage and absolutely no rust. The bearings were relatively new and well greased. The chains were complete and free. In fact I'd happily have pushed my Gran on them were she still alive).

My kids spent many, many hours on those swings. They considered them the best in Marple. Why? For the simple reason the chains were long enough for them to swing really, really high. That floated their boat. But at the same time, you didn't have to swing 10 feet in the air. My 74 year old mum went on them a couple of years ago. Went about 2 feet in the air and laughed like a drain. She hadn't been on a swing in 40 odd years (since I was still needing a push).

Admin's certainly not wrong in stating the Rec park needs a "Friends" group. But what would also help is if people started using it more. The Memorial Park is a fantastic facility but if a few families/groups took their picnics, or their footballs, Frisbees, etc to the Rec occasionally I suspect if there is a cynical plan for the Council to sell, off the land for commercial purposes, their easiest way to dissolve the covenants is to show that the community do not use the park for the purpose it was gifted. Namely recreation.

Just a thought.

(PS My militant 9 years old is threatening to write to the council to ask why they didn't consult prior to taking this dreadful act. Good on her ;-)

RH.

[amazon]

This is the thread you are referring to Amazon: http://www.marple-uk.com/smf/index.php?topic=2999.0

The council own the recreation ground (on behalf of the community).

As it says on the water fountain on the Rec, "The land for this recreation ground was presented by W. B (Walter Bright) Hodgkinson Esq JP". "The cost of erecting the buildings and laying out the children's corner was bourne by Thomas Carver Esq, late of Marple."

I understand that there are covenants on the land similar / the same as those on Memorial Park. They proved most successful in preventing the council selling the park cottage or it being used for commercial purposes and ultimately contributed to the fantastic outcome of it being officially opened soon as the new home of the Brass Bands of Marple. However, it could easily have led to it being left to decay and fall down, which seemed to be the council's own plan for dealing with it before the bands came to the rescue.

I haven't seen the covenants covering the Rec. I think that covenants on their own may not be enough to stop a council determined to sell the land for commercial use but it would give a great deal of strength to anyone who wanted to fight them. But I'm speaking generally here - personally I'd be very surprised (and disappointed) if SMBC were thinking of disposing of this community land that's been in their care for more than 100 years.

Incidentally, the Friends of Memorial Park restored and refurbished the two picnic benches on the Rec last year using money from Marple Area Committee. I would suggest that if we hadn't done this the benches would have been removed too. We also arranged for the water fountain to be cleaned by Karcher. What the Rec really needs is a Friends group of its own to take ownership and fight its corner.

Thank you .

[simonesaffron]

Apparently, some months ago a child (not in Marple) had an accident in one of the children's play parks. As a consequence The Council had all the play-park apparatus inspected across the borough and some of it was condemned as unsafe. So for the last week or so workman have been going around the borough dismantling and removing condemned equipment.

So it isn't just Marple it is the whole of Stockport.

Under those circumstances their actions are perfectly understandable. I would though have thought that they could find the small amount of money required to replace them. Especially with local elections around the corner and particularly when the ruling group is proclaiming in their pre-election leaflets....."£100 Million Pothole Jackpot." ...."eight year plan of action being drawn up." 

[admin]

There was some work done on strines  road a few years ago .and didn't the councill use the top end for storage
Plant etc . And someone brought this up about reinstating it back to what it was .they had to ask someone for permission .to use .

Admin it's in the postings some were can you look please .Thank you .
Marple civic society may be able to help who owns this land .

This is the thread you are referring to Amazon: http://www.marple-uk.com/smf/index.php?topic=2999.0

The council own the recreation ground (on behalf of the community).

As it says on the water fountain on the Rec, "The land for this recreation ground was presented by W. B (Walter Bright) Hodgkinson Esq JP". "The cost of erecting the buildings and laying out the children's corner was bourne by Thomas Carver Esq, late of Marple."

I understand that there are covenants on the land similar / the same as those on Memorial Park. They proved most successful in preventing the council selling the park cottage or it being used for commercial purposes and ultimately contributed to the fantastic outcome of it being officially opened soon as the new home of the Brass Bands of Marple. However, it could easily have led to it being left to decay and fall down, which seemed to be the council's own plan for dealing with it before the bands came to the rescue.

I haven't seen the covenants covering the Rec. I think that covenants on their own may not be enough to stop a council determined to sell the land for commercial use but it would give a great deal of strength to anyone who wanted to fight them. But I'm speaking generally here - personally I'd be very surprised (and disappointed) if SMBC were thinking of disposing of this community land that's been in their care for more than 100 years.

Incidentally, the Friends of Memorial Park restored and refurbished the two picnic benches on the Rec last year using money from Marple Area Committee. I would suggest that if we hadn't done this the benches would have been removed too. We also arranged for the water fountain to be cleaned by Karcher. What the Rec really needs is a Friends group of its own to take ownership and fight its corner.

[amazon]

Correction to the above - the rec was a gift by a private benefactor, Mr Hodgkinson by name. and the work was paid for by the owners of Hollins Mill. There must have been a covenant but local authorities have overthrown covenants before.

There was some work done on strines  road a few years ago .and didn't the councill use the top end for storage
Plant etc . And someone brought this up about reinstating it back to what it was .they had to ask someone for permission .to use .

Admin it's in the postings some were can you look please .Thank you .
Marple civic society may be able to help who owns this land .

[My login is Henrietta]

There were swings, a slide and a roundabout there when I was a little girl. It would be interesting to see the accident statistics for the playground on the rec. since play equipment was first installed there.

And swings are dangerous? So are skateboards but no-one's cribbing about the new skate board thingy.

Or does SMBC have it's eye on the rec for other purposes? One of your beloved mini Tesco shops? Social housing?

How did the rec get there? Was it donated to the people of Marple by a private benefactor or did the old MUDC set it up in a fit of public spiritedness? Anyone know what conditions were laid down as to it's usage?

Correction to the above - the rec was a gift by a private benefactor, Mr Hodgkinson by name. and the work was paid for by the owners of Hollins Mill. There must have been a covenant but local authorities have overthrown covenants before.

[My login is Henrietta]

The workmen told me the swings were being removed as they were deemed dangerous and there is currently no funding for replacements. The tarmac is being lifted and replaced with grass. The benches on the separate strip of tarmac are to remain.

There were swings, a slide and a roundabout there when I was a little girl. It would be interesting to see the accident statistics for the playground on the rec. since play equipment was first installed there.

And swings are dangerous? So are skateboards but no-one's cribbing about the new skate board thingy.

Or does SMBC have it's eye on the rec for other purposes? One of your beloved mini Tesco shops? Social housing?

How did the rec get there? Was it donated to the people of Marple by a private benefactor or did the old MUDC set it up in a fit of public spiritedness? Anyone know what conditions were laid down as to it's usage?

[amazon]

I must live in a different private sector to you Gaz.The one that I'm in has even less imagination than the Council. They just seem to put the price of everything up. Except people's salaries and wages of course.

Maybe we should have a change of Councillors in Marple. Perhaps the one's that we've got have been around too long. The trouble is though that the alternative might be even worse. Labour would probably borrow everything that they could lay their hands on and the Tories might put an ASDA on Marple Memorial Park.

I saw a Council leaflet the other day boasting about how they are spending  £100m on mending the roads ad foothpaths. You would think that out of that they would be able to find a few thousand pounds to provide a couple of swings in the park for the kids.   

Put an Asda in but not In the park .

[Mr Marple]

The workmen told me the swings were being removed as they were deemed dangerous and there is currently no funding for replacements. The tarmac is being lifted and replaced with grass. The benches on the separate strip of tarmac are to remain.

I had a quick swing not that long ago and it seemed fine, but if it's to do with money then it just goes to show what happens where.

The world has changed for sure.................just not for the better.

Priorities placed where, cllrs choices for community, lack of money................many thoughts are going through my mind.

[Dave]

You would think that out of that they would be able to find a few thousand pounds to provide a couple of swings in the park for the kids. 

Indeed,  especially as it would count as capital expenditure, rather then revenue, and therefore depreciated over a number of years in the accounts.  So the impact on the current year's bottom line would be negligible. 

[simonesaffron]

It wouldn't wash in the private sector... Budgets cut there too, but targets stretched... People are delivering more, with less...

I must live in a different private sector to you Gaz.The one that I'm in has even less imagination than the Council. They just seem to put the price of everything up. Except people's salaries and wages of course.

Maybe we should have a change of Councillors in Marple. Perhaps the one's that we've got have been around too long. The trouble is though that the alternative might be even worse. Labour would probably borrow everything that they could lay their hands on and the Tories might put an ASDA on Marple Memorial Park.

I saw a Council leaflet the other day boasting about how they are spending  £100m on mending the roads ad foothpaths. You would think that out of that they would be able to find a few thousand pounds to provide a couple of swings in the park for the kids.