Safety in park is diabolical, says tragedy father

Ian Burks, who eight years ago launched the national Keep Our Children Safe campaign aimed at pressuring councils to introduce soft surfaces under play equipment, said that there was an accident waiting to happen at Wharfemeadows Park, off the River Wharfe in Otley.

He said the majority of play equipment did not have any soft safety matting underneath it, including the top swings in the park.

His 16-year-old son, Simon, died when he fractured his skull on hard concrete after he fell off some swings in Scotland.

"There is no soft surfacing underneath a lot of stuff, which is absolutely diabolical," Mr Burks said.

"This is one of the area's main parks. A lot of tourists and local people use it and the number of children who use it, particularly in summer, is incredible.

"There is an accident waiting to happen and I'm frightened that what happened to my son will happen again here.

"It is a damning indictment of Leeds City Council's neglect and it is the playground users who could end up paying the price in tragic fashion.

"There is a climbing frame which has obviously been put up fairly recently which has matting underneath which is fine, but the lack of safety with the other stuff is horrendous."

And Mr Burks, who regularly attended Wharfemead-ows Park as a child and who now lives in Cookridge, has been backed by Pool-in-Wharfedale resident May Wedgewood, who brings her three-year-old niece to the park.

She said: "It is a worry. You have to keep hold of your kids when they're on the swings because if they fall, you've had it - it's a death trap."

A spokesman for Leeds City Council's Leisure Services Department said: "Our Parks and Countryside Division will be investigating the concern raised by Mr Burks and will take appropriate action to make the area safer for children."

l RIGHT: Mr Burks is pictured at the swings in Wharfemeadows Park.

Picture by Andy Horner

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