Unfortunately the park has now been closed by GCC on health and safety grounds. 

The area has been closed on Health & Safety grounds and we are hoping to make repairs, where possible, as an interim measure until such times as a full refurbishment of the area is carried out.

Glasgow City Council – May 2022

When asked if they had a timeline for repairs and reopening, they responded:

Sorry , not at present we are hoping our blacksmiths can look at some of the elements asap though they also have a backlog.

I’d be interested to know what’s lead to this change, given the previous communications from GCC that stated:

Our play areas are checked on a routine basis and if any issues are identified we will always take steps to ensure safety is protected.

Ultimately after failure to properly maintain the play area, it has now had to be closed on health and safety grounds.

Funding

Regarding funding for improving the play area, the initial response from GCC was:

“Langside Area Partnership have recently committed £5,367.85 from their Area Budget for 2021/22 towards the supply and installation of a new Aerowhirl at Queens Park, with this service committing an additional £2694.15 to complete this project budget from our revenue funding for 2022/23.”

An Aerowhirl is one of these, which is incidentally one of the pieces of play equipment that is fully functional and reasonably new. I assume it’s £1313 for the Aerowhirl, £12 for a couple of bags of cement and £6737 for installation and surfacing. 

After raising this with GCC, they responded:

To note we are looking to include this play area within our play area tender which is currently being worked up to be passed to our procurement section and we will, once contractors are appointed, look to schedule works for a refurbishment of this location.

I asked for confirmation of the value of the tender, whether it was for play equipment, resurfacing or both, and whether there will be a participatory element to the planning, design and choice of equipment. The response on 19th April was:

We currently have £14,888 allocated to the repair/refurbishment. We may look to add to this should budget allow. We will carry out a further assessment this week and then review our budget allocation.

The tender would include play equipment and carpet repair.

We will also engage with the Queens park working group/community councils and elected members regards any proposed works.

Moving forward

Unfortunately it would appear this further assessment led to the park being chained up altogether. There were initially ‘Unofficial’ signs cabled tied up, which were later replaced by ‘Official’ ones. I’m not sure what the strategy was here.

The closure of the park really brings the problem into sharp focus. Parents are jumping the fences to use the area – I think this is telling of the importance of the park to families in the area. 
Given the cost of equipment and installation, it’s clear that £15k isn’t going to be enough. I’m unsure how this figure was derived and whether this is coming from the Refurbishment of Play Parks fund or a Land and Environmental Services budget. 

From my perspective, the next step is to ascertain how much funding is available if we can get South Central, Pollokshields and Langside area partnerships to work together.
It would also be good if Glasgow City Council could engage in some constructive dialog rather than burying their heads in the sand.