Two well-loved adventure playgrounds will be demolished next month despite the ruling councillors admitting they had not discussed the proposal with an opposing parents group.

It has now been confirmed that the supervised Harebreaks and Harwoods adventure playgrounds will close permanently at 4pm on Sunday, with demolition due to begin in the coming weeks, after the move was rubberstamped by a Watford Borough Council scrutiny committee on Thursday evening.

READ MORE: 'Shame on you' - children oppose council's decision to close popular adventure playgrounds

The committee upheld the decision made by the council’s cabinet earlier this month despite impassioned opposition from the SWAP (Save Watford’s Adventure Playgrounds) group, which offered to take on the running of the facilities as a charity.

Despite their presence at Thursday’s meeting - and at all others concerning the closure in the past - councillors admitted there had been no discussion with the passionate group about potential alternatives.

“This is not listening to the community. They never gave a reason why they turned down the proposal – they could have negotiated, cut down on the staff, without closing them altogether,” said Councillor Mo Mills, who called the council’s decision back to the scrutiny committee.

Watford Observer:

“It is just heartbreaking. Why were they not spoken to? The council wasn’t prepared to listen in any way. There was no intention of meeting with SWAP, who suggested running it themselves as a charity.

“The adventure playgrounds are two of the best things that Watford has got.”

She added the Lib Dem-run council had “nothing to lose” in the areas where the playgrounds are located as both facilities lie in Labour wards.

Plans for a complete overhaul of the two sites – to the tune of around £1.4 million – have been proposed by the council to plug the leisure gap left by the removal of the Vicarage Road and Leggatts Way playgrounds, but the money set aside has already increased significantly from the £1.25 originally quoted.

The council is aiming to open the new playgrounds by Spring 2017.

Councillor Nigel Bell said the council “rejected the chance to listen to their residents”.

“It was a sad night for many children, parents and for the respected staff who now face redundancy after so many of them have given years of dedicated service in looking after and caring for local kids, with the trust of local families,” he added.

All existing 19 play staff have been served notices to terminate their employment. However a new post has been created to lead on commissioning the programme of play activities in the Easter and summer holidays.   

Councillor Anne Joynes said she was shocked by the “sheer intransigence” shown by the majority of the council.

“They were not prepared to listen. Had they looked at other alternatives? There is a possibility there but they just won’t look at it,” she said.

“They were elected by people but they are not listening to the people.”

Three Rivers resident Libby Truscott, a senior play worker who sits on the board at Play England, spoke at the meeting but was unable to persuade the councillors to reverse the council’s decision.

“Everyone was really devastated. Children were crying and the parents were very upset too,” she said.

She asked for a deed to be placed on the land at Harwoods “in perpetuum” – meaning indefinitely – so it could only be used solely for children’s activities in the future.

It has been suggested that some of the land at the Harwoods site could be sold to TfL as part of their redevelopment of Croxley station.

The council is currently considering Mrs Truscott’s proposal.

Councillor Karen Collett, responsible for community, said: “We gave a great deal of consideration to SWAP’s alternative proposal for the adventure playgrounds, including the information presented to us at our meeting last night. 

“Whilst there were good ideas put forward, the bottom line is that it didn’t achieve either the savings that the council needs to find nor the opening up of the sites so that young people can access great quality play facilities every day throughout the year. 

“Our financial situation means that there are difficult decisions we have to make and £3million is a lot of money to find.  What we have done is secured both these sites for play for the future and committed to providing free activities for the Easter and summer holidays when young people need them most. 

“Investing £1.4million in the sites and ensuring we provide a choice of activities across the borough shows our commitment to our young people.”