Parents of Wallyford street claim their children were locked out of play park

Residents living in private housing on the north side of the play park on Wallyford’s Oliphant Gardens say they were not consulted before Dunedin Canmore put a bolt on the gate nearest their homes.

Not only did this stop their children from accessing the park but, they claim, it also blocked a safe access route the youngsters used to visit friends.

However, Dunedin Canmore, which has new homes to the south of the play park where there is open access to the play facility (see image, bottom right), insists it merely replaced a lock which was already on the gate after spending money upgrading the park, which only has two entrances and is bounded by private gardens and tall fencing to the east and west.

Following concerns from residents, the padlock has now been removed.

Dad Justin Hynd said he had asked Dunedin Canmore why they had effectively blocked access to the play park for children from his side of the street.

He said: “I haven’t been able to get an answer over why they have decided to make the play park their own and deny other children access.

“It was built as part of the development and we have not had any approaches from the housing association or any discussions about who owns it or maintains it – we have simply been locked out.”

The play park, which contains a single slide, has been fitted with special flooring for play areas.

Its south side opens out onto housing owned by Dunedin Canmore and the fence there has been lowered and the gate removed to allow children playing in it to be clearly seen.

On the north side of the enclosed play park, the fence remains high and the gate was bolted and locked with a combination padlock from the inside.

The original plans for housing on the development included the play area with access planned from both sides of this section of the street.

Police were called to the street last week as neighbours argued over access to the play area, although no-one was charged with any criminal offence.

Dunedin Canmore said they did not know who put the original lock on the gates but would be removing it to allow access from both sides of the play park.

It was suggested the gate was initially locked because older children were using the park as a through route while circuiting the houses on their bicycles.

Hazel Young, Dunedin Canmore’s housing and customer services director, said: “We’ve spent thousands of pounds upgrading the play park so the whole community can use it. One of the gates to the play park has always been open but a second gate didn’t shut properly and had a padlock on it to stop older children riding bikes through the middle of the park. We are confident that now both gates can be shut properly this will no longer be an issue and the padlock has been removed.”