Protests at playground 'mudbath' (From Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News)

Protests at playground 'mudbath'

10:20am Wednesday 27th January 2010

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PARENTS in Burnham and Highbridge are threatening to boycott a new £140,000 children’s adventure area – after it turned from a playground paradise into muddy hell.

Sedgemoor District Council completed the new ‘state-of-the-art’ Apex Park play facility – furnished with climbing frames, an aerial runway and pod swings – in Highbridge last month.

But after January’s snow and rain, the play area’s lush grass surface has been transformed into a boggy quagmire.

Parents say that children are now getting stuck in the mud and falling into giant puddles.

Hazel Fear, from Burnham, who has three young children, said: “It is absolutely vile.

“The whole area is bogged down with mud and water. I refuse to take my children there to play any more.”

And mum-of-two Georgina Della-Valle, also from Burn-ham, said the play area was like taking her children to Glastonbury Festival.

“Except the festival organisers are more prepared for the mud than they are here”, she added.

“I went there on Thursday and a child’s wellie came off and they got stuck in the mud.”

The costly play area was revamped during the autumn, thanks to a £60,000 grant by The Big Lottery.

But angry parents are now demanding its surface is changed to stop the mudbath.

Sedgemoor District Council admitted to the Weekly News that there had been ‘teething problems’ with the children’s area.

But the council added it would NOT resurface the play park.

A spokesman added: “Once the ground is less saturated, the contractors will return to re-turf and survey for any other problems that need remediation.”

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