Confusion at council stance on Staxigoe play park
A CONCERNED resident and community councillor has spoken of her confusion over Highland Council's stance on the Staxigoe play park.
Pat Ramsay, a retired head teacher and Sinclair's Bay community councillor, said she had been looking for an assessment from the council so the village play park could officially reopen after being closed due to coronavirus restrictions.
Before reopening, all local authority play parks have to be in a "safe and serviceable" condition. This means a full inspection and maintenance programme must be carried out, and staff shortages mean it has to be done in a phased manner.
Mrs Ramsay said: "We have such a wonderful play park in Staxigoe and I had pushed for it to be assessed so it could be reopened. Councillor Raymond Bremner very quickly helped with getting that assessment so we could get the go-ahead."
Advice was provided by the Scottish Government on June 28 on the safety measures that should be applied by local authorities and most sites have now been assessed and are open again.
After Councillor Bremner (Wick and East Caithness) sent a council worker over to check the Staxigoe facility and give it the green light, Mrs Ramsay thought it was safe to declare the play park open.
But when she checked its status on the council's website she found no mention of it among the 436 play spaces across the region.
"I took the plunge and took off the signs, which I'd originally put up at the start of lockdown, saying the play park was closed," she said.
"I also added in bottles of hand sanitiser which I secured on to the benches and thought it was all good.
"Our park is only two years old and in tip-top condition. It has been properly assessed as far as I'm concerned and I've got a copy of that assessment in an email."
When the council was contacted this week it admitted there had been an error with the Staxigoe facility and erroneously believed it was a community-run play park.
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “Thank you for bringing to our attention that the new community funded Staxigoe play park was not on the council’s list of play areas – this is being amended. The new Staxigoe play park will open under phase two of the council’s play area reopening programme.
"The council’s website will be updated with the list of the sites reopening across the region at www.highland.gov.uk/playareas.
"This web page will be updated as sites are reopened. The old disused play park in Elzy Grove, Staxigoe, will remain closed for the time being. We thank the public for their patience as we work to reopen play parks with a much-reduced workforce – and we ask everyone to bear with us as not all play parks can reopen at the same time and signage will be erected indicating whether they are safe to use.”
Mrs Ramsay found the council response further confused the matter.
"Despite us having an assessment done by an council employee they are saying it's still not officially open and we have to wait for phase two. I really don't understand it," she said.