No ‘Short Term Fix’ For Wrecked Thame Play Area

A THAME recreation ground, described as ?just mush? and ?unusable? by Thame mothers, is unlikely to be improved in the short term, says Thame Town Council because of insufficient Officer time and a lack of funding.
Following representation by Sally Britnall and Alsion O?Riley to the council?s Culture, Leisure and Recreation committee last night, the two mums were told that the Southern Road Recreation ground, which, apart from general wear and tear had suffered considerable vandalism, was a priority of the Open Spaces Working group but that there was ?no quick fix.?
Money given to the district council by the government to improve recreational facilities had already been allocated for this year, reported Cllr David Bretherton, and so funding would have to be applied for next year, by June 2008.
Additionally, the Clerk explained, the project would have to go out to public consultation once the Open Spaces group had looked at it, and then it would have to go through a tendering process once the town council itself had agreed match funding. She added that there was no officer time available to look into funding, and suggested that the council employ someone on a temporary basis to look into funding.

?Everyone we know,? said Alison O?Riley, ?takes their children to the park at Chinnor which is the best one in the area.
?At Southern Road, there are no signs showing liability, or indication of who is responsible for the facility or who to contact if there were an accident. There is no indication as to what age group is allowed to use it, for example are teenagers allowed?
?There is no access for wheelchairs ? they would just get stuck in the mush and less able adults cannot get in to supervise their children. Where can the children from the First Steps Nursery play and where will children from the new Rycotewood development play? And what about all this talk of obesity? We are talking about the future generation of Thame here.?

In answer to a question by Cllr Owen Davies about what sort of equipment the two women would like to see, they mentioned the park in Marlow, which apparently, some members of the committee had visited.

The two mums did have praise for the Elms Park play area on the other side of Thame, where unfortunately, a