ELECTED Mayor Dorothy Thornhill has said she will rise to the challenge laid down by a Garston mother who is demanding a better play area for local children using Garston Park.

Mrs Ayelet Bayley, who came to Garston three years ago, said she was horrified at the state of children's play faciliies in Garston Park and has since collected hundreds of signatures on a petition, presented to Mayor Thornhill.

Mrs Bayley said: "I enjoy taking my kids for a walk after school as the park is next door.

"It is a big beautiful park but the play area is a disaster.

"All the equipment is broken or destroyed. There used to be a slide but it had a gap in it which a child could have fallen through.

"Then it fell into pieces and now it has been taken away and there are only two swings for children.

"As a mother and resident I wanted to do something.

"Someone has got to take a stand and try to get things done so I started a petition."

Mrs Bayley said it was easy to get the first 200 signatures.

She said: "We all want a nice decent play area. The park is big but has nothing to offer unless the kids want to kick a ball around.

"There is nothing in the whole area for children.

"I heard that Mayor Thornhill was interested in improving parks and play areas. I thought this was my chance so I have given the petition to her.

"I am going to keep on about this and not give up."

Mayor Thornhill said: "One of my pledges is to spend Section 106 money that we get from developers to improve the community. There is lots of money in the pot for a children's area and we have to sort out a strategy to spend the money in the best way.

"The money is sitting there but we have not got the capacity to spend it. So I will be kickstarting a new strategy so that money will get used.

"I have put the playground issue at the top of my list. This will put the parks department to the test to see if they can deliver on this.

"I hope that they will get on with it."

July 4, 2002 15:30