Playing safely

For the benefit of the taxpayers of East Preston, I wish to bring to their notice the reluctance of our council to hold the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) to account, for providing contradictory safety reports at a cost of about £700.

In accordance with its responsibilities as landlord in April, 2007, the council commissioned RoSPA to provide a risk assessment for when cricket was being played on the Warren Recreation Ground.

The report noted that, due to the confined nature of the ground, there was always a danger of injury to neighbouring residents, to those using the car park and, in particular, to children using the play area.

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RoSPA recommended that a fence with a minimum height of 18m be erected to protect the play area. So concerned was the parish council chairman at the time, that a second, more in-depth report was commissioned to further assess the dangers. RoSPA repeated its earlier concerns and recommended that, to avoid the risk of ball strikes, a larger ground be found for the senior teams.

Following a change in leadership of the parish council, the concerns raised by RoSPA were disregarded and the council failed to implement any of the recommendations. Instead, for some inexplicable reason, RoSPA was commissioned to provide another report in 2011, even though the 2007 reports were still valid. This time, RoSPA reported back that the situation was satisfactory and made no recommendations relating to the concerns raised in 2007.

I asked the council to obtain an explanation from RoSPA as to why it could offer such conflicting assessments for the same risk. I also suggested the council should seek a refund of the charges made for these now worthless reports.

The council has refused to do either. This must surely bring into question the council’s competence to manage our local taxes in a sound and proper manner and its decision not to provide adequate protection for the youngsters using the play area.

Thomas Lemin

Sea Road

East Preston

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East Preston Parish Council responded with the following statement:

“As trustee of the Warren Recreation Ground, East Preston Parish Council does take safety matters seriously, and seeks regular expert advice where it can.

“The council has noted and considered Mr Lemin’s concerns about the quality of RoSPA Play Safety reports in the past, whilst recognising that RoSPA is a recognised body for the production of such reports. “Different inspectors may see things differently, which does not mean that one or the other is necessarily wrong or worthless.

“Looking forward, in response to Mr Lemin’s concerns about RoSPA Play Safety, in November, 2012 the council advised Mr Lemin that it would be happy to commission a further report from another organisation, splitting the costs between the three interested parties, i.e. neighbours, the East Preston Cricket Club and East Preston Parish Council.

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“At the beginning of this year, Mr Lemin replied directing the council to a member of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health. The council felt that it was only right for all interested parties to agree in advance an understanding under which such an independent assessment could be carried out.

“Draft terms of an agreement were rejected by a number of neighbours, including Mr Lemin, without any proposal of alternative terms. The council has recently gone back to those neighbours, asking them to reconsider their position and to suggest some alternative terms. At this time, no responses have been received.”

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