CHILDREN'S safety is of paramount importance at all times - but even more so on park play equipment where accidents do occasionally happen. Ian Burks' campaign to highlight the lack of soft surfacing under play equipment brought him to Otley and the popular Wharfemeadows Park, which is used by scores of local youngsters and tourists.

It seems that some of the equipment has no surfacing underneath and is, in Mr Burks' words 'an accident waiting to happen'. It is nothing short of a scandal that in this day and age, children cannot play safely.

Soft surfacing is not the luxury Leeds City Council seems to think it is. Leisure Services chiefs can plead poverty, like they usually do, but lack of finances isn't an acceptable answer when people's lives could be at risk.

In fact, it's an insult and an affront.

It was the lack of soft surfacing which tragically cost the life of Mr Burks' teenage son at a playground in Scotland. We are entitled to demand and expect that Leeds City Council will take action to ensure the safety of our youngsters in Wharfemeadows Park and that we won't be mourning a similar accident.

TWO years of hard work could count for nothing if another site cannot be found to house the Otley Millennium Green. The proposed site at the back of Otley Mill has been found to be contaminated and there is no way the £200,000 needed to rectify the problem can be found.

It could be a sad end to a campaign which had the full support of the community and the Wharfedale Observer. It's even sadder for the members of Otley Millennium Association and the Otley Millennium Green Committee, whose tireless work and boundless enthusiasm have kept the project going when the odds have been stacked against them.

The only hope is that someone can come forward with another site - or once again Otley will miss out.