THANK goodness that West Devon Borough Council have interceded and exercised common sense in respect of the proposal for a paddling pool in Simmons Park. Okehampton town council would be wise to take heed of their advice.
Have the mayor and her councillors given serious consideration to the pitfalls that such a proposal will encounter?
(a) Pollution of the water. Health and safety regulations will be impossible to comply with on a day to day basis. It will be a potential minefield in respect of biological situations.
(b) Supervision. Parents may look after their own, but who controls/removes the undesirable elements that will inevitably turn up.?
(c) What will occur during 'evening hours'? Drunken yobs smashing bottles in the pool, along with other unmentionable acts? The toilets in Simmons Park and in Fairplace are a good enough example of what will occur.
(d) The cost implications of providing adequate supervision. Maintenance of health standards and the high possibility of high compensation claims against the town council must make the proposed paddling pool a definite non-starter.
This project should not progress any further if the health and safety of our children is to be safeguarded.
Had the town council given this project sufficient thought, then it would have been incorporated in the design of the Parkland Centre, whereupon health, hygiene and maintenance standards along with supervision could have been controlled.
Perhaps it is not too late for this to occur.
M H Wadmore
18 Fern Close
Okehampton