Trust says it is working hard to reopen village playground

When Anne Martin and her family visited Sea Palling for a day out on Monday, August 16, the group started out at the beach.

Then wanting somewhere more sheltered to have lunch they decided to head to the village playground for a picnic.

But when they got there the group was surprised and upset to find the gates bolted shut and the play area inaccessible.

Mrs Martin said: "We got there and the gates were padlocked and there was a sign saying something about this park has been closed.

"The kids were upset, so we sat by the gates and had our picnic and thought this is a bit unfair especially as the park looked lovely, it was a big area with lots of lovely nice equipment and it was all locked up."

Mrs Martin said while they were sitting having their picnic a number of other families came up to the gates to also try and enter the park.

"You just don't expect it in the school holidays," she added.

The Sea Palling playground is managed by the Sea Palling and Waxham Community Trust.

Pam Millsted, one of the trustees, said she was sorry to hear about the family's experience and said the playground, which is undergoing a refurbishment, was closed due to "problems with contractors".

She said: "Unfortunately we had problems with our contractors and because of Covid there's been a delay with work but we're now having a new contractor to come and finish the work.

"It's been a bit of a disaster really."

Mrs Millsted said the trust was doing its best to get the playground open as soon as possible for the village's children and visitors alike.

She said once work had been completed and mandatory safety checks carried out it was hoped the new playground would be able to open next month.

"It's frustrating because it's been so long and our own children are really upset about it. But we're working very hard and we should see it opened sometime in September," she added.