Plea for removal of play park which is '˜blighting our lives'

Residents are mounting a new campaign to have a play park at Hampers Green, which they say is '˜blighting' their lives, moved further away from their homes.
Picture by Kate ShemiltPicture by Kate Shemilt
Picture by Kate Shemilt

The residents of Old Pond Mews, whose homes are directly in front of the play park, have been concerned about the noise and anti-social behaviour from the park since it was built in November 2015.

But, they say, several appeals to Petworth Town Council have fallen on deaf ears. Now they are making an appeal for help to Lord Egremont as the play park has been provided by the town council on Leconfield Estate land.

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They are also making a renewed appeal to town councillors to move the play equipment.

Spokesman for the neighbours, Tracey Mawby said: “We are not against events on the green or against the play park. We believe the children need space to play but it’s not fair to put it so close to our homes. We can’t understand why they put the play park so close to houses which are not child orientated and without any prior consultation.

“It has blighted our lives. We cannot enjoy our homes and it has affected our health, it’s a real intrusion into our privacy and it’s getting worse.”

She said the major current issue was the large groups of visitors to Petworth House who were coming over the road to use the area for picnics.

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“We have had about 30 to 40 at a time crowding in, bringing picnics and using the green as a toilet – if local children wanted to play there sometimes they would have a job to get in.”

She said there was also the continuing problem of teenagers using the play towers as drinking dens late at night: “We met town councillors last summer and we felt chairman of the open

spaces Roger Hanauer was very sympathetic and came up with some good suggestions like removing the roof of the towers but nothing has happened and meanwhile our lives continue to get worse.”