Department Acts to Equip Playground

A Central campaign to fix unsafe playgrounds in Waterloo public housing has succeeded after the intervention of the Housing Minister reports Robert Burton-Bradley in Central of 25 june 2008.

The shocking state of disrepair at three playgrounds on Housing NSW land at Waterloo Green was first revealed by Central in April this year.

Following the article Central received a call from the office of Housing Minster Matt Brown who said he was horrified at the state of the playgrounds and immediately intervened to get repairs started.

"These playgrounds are important to the children and parents in Waterloo and I am pleased they are back to being fully functional," Mr Brown said.

"When I was informed they had been damaged and saw the photographs in Central I immediately asked Housing NSW to investigate and repair the swings and slides as quickly as possible.

"I have a message for the community - please help us to keep all of our facilities in good and safe condition by reporting any people you see vandalising - not only these playgrounds, but anything else - to the police."

A spokesman for Housing NSW said the repairs had cost more than $6000 and vandals had caused most of the damage. Redfern mum Ifeanna Tooth said it was a positive outcome for the area.

"When they took the swings away [from the playgrounds] I was pessimistic about them being fixed but they did it properly," Ms Tooth said.

Ms Tooth first discovered the damaged playgrounds when she sought locations for her three-year-old son Owen to play after Redfern park playground closed for construction work.

"It was the ultimate goal, getting them repaired," Ms Tooth said.

"The kids who use it from the housing commission will now have a safe place to play."

Public Housing resident and precinct representative Ross Smith said the repairs were welcome but said the playgrounds should never have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent they did.

"Nice to see the department has finally started," he said. "It's a shame it took that amount of pressure for them to do it."

Photo: Phil Rogers - Owen Tooth takes advantage of the refurbished play equipment at Waterloo.

Source: Central 25^th June 2008

REDWatch Note: For Background on this issue see also:

The poor state of NSW Housing children’s playgrounds in Waterloo and Redfern

Risky State of Play

Minister steps in to fix playgrounds