The council playground in London that costs £20 a time

Parents accuse Wandsworth of profiting from children’s play
New equipment will be installed - but at a price

Parents face paying more than £20 for each of their children to use an adventure playground.

Mothers today accused Wandsworth council of trying to profit from children after it demolished equipment providing “challenging” play in Battersea Park and replaced it with basic apparatus.

The Tory council now plans to have much better equipment installed – but at a price – and parents said it was “creating a great divide” between rich and poor families.

The original adventure playground was bulldozed last winter in a cost-cutting drive and 14 workers sacked, who also ran workshops for children.

The council then spent £250,000 on new equipment that does not require staff monitoring. The basic facilities – including rope swings, chain ladders, tube slides and zip wires – will remain free to use.

Wandsworth wanted “additional adventure and challenge” facilities and has now agreed a contract with the Go Ape leisure firm to build a high-wire “tree-top adventure course” in the tallest trees above the playground. The council said 20 jobs would be created and, subject to planning permission, the course would offer a “thrilling and challenging two- to three-hour long treetop experience”.

Go Ape said entry fees would be in line with its other London site, at Trent Park in Enfield, which charges £24 for children and £32 for adults. It is understood the firm will pay an annual £63,000 fee to the council, plus 17.6 per cent of ticket sales.

A proposal for a £2.50 charge for weekend entry to the whole playground was shelved after protests.

Mother-of-three Senia Dedic, 49, said disadvantaged families most needed extra outdoor facilities but were being priced out. She added: “We were worried that the council would introduce a £2.50 charge but now we face paying more than £20.”

Elizabeth Oddono, 49, a mother of three boys aged eight to 12, said: “The council is creating a great divide in the area. I think it’s not right that extra play facilities are there only for the children whose parents can pay for them.”

Sheila Boswell, the opposition Labour group’s children’s services spokeswoman, said: “Queen Victoria gave Battersea Park to the public and this flies in the face of that.

“We had one of the finest free adventure playgrounds in London, but now these charges will put it totally out of reach for ordinary local families.”

A council spokesman said: “We are offering families in London a unique premium leisure attraction that we think will be hugely popular with all sections of the community.”

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