Restore our play park

Tarbert campaigners are calling on the council to keep its word and restore a much-missed play park.

 

The village has been waiting 18 months for improvements since hearing "good news" from Argyll and Bute Council that work was going to start in March 2022.

 

The play area next to the football pitch was originally dismantled by the council to sort out drainage problems but residents say it was left "wrecked" and "ruined," and is now overgrown by weeds.

 

Fed up with waiting, a  call has  gone out for people to rally at the play park at 11am on Sunday September 3 to get a campaign started.

 

They want the council to tell them why promised improvements have not been carried out yet and they are asking if the money allotted for it is still available in the spending pot - or has if it has been spent elsewhere.

 

Resurfacing work has been carried out around the football pitch itself but the play area has been untouched, leaving a job half done and unfinished.

 

In February 2022, Argyll and Bute Council's website announced Tarbert was to benefit from major regeneration works as part of the authority's ongoing commitment to economic recovery. It described it as  "good news" for the play park.

 

One and a half years later the playpark looks "very Chernobyl " said one comment on Facebook after a photo of it was posted on the All Things Tarbert community page.

 

Councillors have long been lobbied, including Kintyre and Islands councillor Alastair Redman, who said he has brought the matter to officers' attention "more than a few times" in person and by email and was "angry" at the lack of progress.

 

"I'm very disappointed that the council has not acted more quickly on this. We need action not words. This has been dragging on for far too long," he said, and added the funds "should still be available to get it done".

 

Grandmother-of-three Fiona Johnstone and Karen McAlpine hope the playpark meeting they have instigated next month will get a big turnout.

 

"The council needs to make it better, even if it just a temporary fix for now. We want to know why nothing has been done yet,  and do they still have the money or has it been re-directed and spent elsewhere?" said Fiona.

 

"They have wrecked the playground that was there, left it ruined, and not repaired it. Our community's children deserve better than that," she added.

 

Secretary of Tarbert Soccer Centre Lynn MacKinnon is backing the campaign to get the play park restored.

 

She said: "We have tried really hard to make the soccer centre fully inclusive. A lot of people don't have childcare so younger siblings were brought along and used to play on the equipment during practises to keep them entertained but that facility is no longer there for them. We want it back.

 

"It's something that people here feel strongly about. A lot of money is being spent on Lochgilphead and Ardrishaig but our play park in Tarbert has just been left."

 

A council spokesperson said: "In order to carry out the necessary improvement works, we are looking to supplement the funding using the Scottish Government’s Play Park Fund. A report will go to MAKI Area Committee for funding consideration of all play parks within the local area.”

 

Kintyre and Islands Councillor Robin Currie said earlier this year he advised that officers would be consulting shortly with schools and communities regarding Play Park Renewal funding from the Scottish Government and he encouraged the community to take part.

 

Other ward councillor Dougie McFadzean said he has been trying to get the new park project hurried up and understood Argyll and Bute Council was granted Scottish Government money  last year specifically to be spent on improving play parks.

 

"Some of this funding was allocated for Tarbert and as far as I know still is," he said adding he is expecting a full update from the team leading the renewal project next week.

 

"I am now told that the new play park should be open in Spring 2024, but am pushing for an exact timeline."

 

Campaigners are encouraging people to report the state of the play park here: www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/my-council/report-it

 

 

 

Caption:

 

Tarbert Soccer Centre kids mourn the neglected state of the play park at Cil Andreis in Tarbert.