Leicester's adventure playgrounds appeal for 'future survival'

The sites - like Goldhill Adventure Playground - will have to become "self-sustaining", Leicester City Council said

Six of Leicester's adventure playgrounds have asked the city council to let them continue using the premises after this financial year.

The authority previously said it would stop funding for nine sites, adding they needed to become "self-sustaining".

Officials from six of them have now written to the mayor of Leicester.

The council said after next year it would struggle to fund any service it did not have a legal duty to provide.

The playgrounds offer free, indoor and outdoor activities for children, with the council providing funding for school holidays.

'Much loved projects'

The open letter to Sir Peter Soulsby, which was shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), was sent by officials from Braunstone, Highfields, New Parks, Northfields, St Andrews and Woodgate Adventure Playgrounds.

They asked him to "intervene at this critical point in the playgrounds' history", saying they had to stay in possession of the playgrounds to secure the "large scale funding" they needed.

They added they would then be in a position to work in partnership with the council on new initiatives.

In the letter, trustees from the playgrounds said: "We know you'll be aware that the playgrounds are much loved projects that have served the city's most economically disadvantaged communities for over half a century, and that you will take this last and immediate opportunity to intervene, giving them the best chance of future survival."

A spokesperson for the city council said they had been proud to support the charitable play associations that ran the playgrounds in Leicester, "even when such facilities have disappeared in most cities".

They added: "We want to help and encourage them to develop their business plans and identify new sources of funding over the coming year.

"As part of this, we are also looking into how we might support them through transfer of the land that the playgrounds operate on or long leases with peppercorn rent. We are actively working on how this can be achieved and working through the legal complexities as quickly as we can."