UNHAPPY . . . community councillor Ian McLatchie and his fellow Lockerbie team have branded the £20,000 budget for a children’s slide as laughable
Campaigners in the town were last week initially pleased to discover a rundown park was set to get new equipment after councillors agreed to free up £20,000 to replace the slide and fix the fence at the Park Place site.
But the large sum has left community councillors baffled.
Member Ian McLatchie said: “The council waste money constantly. £20,000 for one slide, will it be made out of gold?
“If they are going to spend £20,000 then they better have one hell of a park with that money.
“It’s a shame the money can’t be divided between some of the other parks too, as they are all in desperate need of being spruced up.”
PARK . . . councillor Adam Wilson, pictured at Park Place play park last month where he found glass
Meanwhile Annandale North Councillor Gail Macgregor says she will push to make sure that local children are consulted before the slide is purchased.
She said she is keen to avoid a repeat of the McJerrow Park fiasco, where thousands was spent removing fun equipment and replacing it with ‘boring’ equipment that had school children penning letters of complaint to the council.
She said: “Previously we have been given assurances that children will be consulted before new equipment is purchased and I’ll be pushing the council to make sure this happens.”
Further responding, a spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Council said: “The project has been given a £20k budget to replace the slide with a like for like slide (tower etc) and the perimeter fence around the park. Quotes are in the process of being obtained.”
