View from the Town Council column: Councillor Jeff Hanna

Child’s play is also politics. Playgrounds that kids should enjoy can be well maintained or left derelict, dependent on decisions made by councillors. In Bournemouth, far too many kids are losing out.

Children need playgrounds. Not just for play. Having fun, taking risks, getting hurt, getting back up, making friends, losing a game, aiming to win next time, are what playgrounds are all about. Learning life’s lessons, while you play.

Yet, too many of our playgrounds are a disgrace. When I first visited Beaufort Play Park, the only playground in my ward, it was the worst that I had seen – and with 20 years of experience as a councillor in two London Boroughs, I have seen a few.

Rusting, broken play equipment. Weed-strewn, cracked ‘safety’ surfaces. A mud-covered, worn tarmac basketball court, torn, crooked nets, rotting wooden fencing for its surround.

In fact, when BCP reviewed all its playgrounds, it calculated a £10million spend required to bring them up to standard for our children to enjoy. Somehow BCP found £4million to make a start. It will not find that amount again.

BCP’s funding has been cut year on year. A £15million government cut last year alone. The £6million needed to complete all our playgrounds is now a pipe-dream.

Which is why the Town Councils were created, because town councils can step in and put things right.

The Bournemouth playgrounds now most in need include Springbourne’s Churchill Gardens, (£140,000), Kinson’s Pelhams Park (£125,000), Avenue Road’s Central Gardens (150,000) and Beaufort itself, off Cranleigh Road (£200,000). Total estimate, £615,000.

Bournemouth Town Council has over £500,000 sitting doing nothing this year alone. Next year, with no increase in council tax, it will have another £1,500,000 available to use. In just two short years, we can comfortably fund these playgrounds, and do much more as well.

Politics may or may not be child’s play, but children’s play is most definitely politics, and our new Town Council now has the chance to show that our children count.