Part of Daventry Country Park playground to remain shut until next spring

The play area had to be closed by the council last month after equipment was believed to have been vandalised by travellers who gained access to the park on September 11.

Daventry Norse then cleaned and serviced the northern section of the playground, which has since re-opened.

The southern part, however, will remain closed until next spring while the council refurbishes it as part of £235,000 worth of improvements to the park, which were given the go-ahead by councillors in July.

"Play equipment is being removed from this part of the playground in order to give us a blank canvas ready for the installation of new equipment in the spring," said a Daventry District Council spokesman.

"The zip wire and two large rhinos will remain but everything else will be new."

Residents will be given the chance to have their say on the new equipment in the playground.

Work to create a ditch and bund system to prevent unauthorised access in future is scheduled to take place in November.

One mother, who did not want to be named, visited the park at the weekend and was annoyed at the lack of signage in the car park informing visitors most of the playground was closed.

"I don't know how long it's been like that but we went on Saturday, paid to park and then realised the vast majority of the playground had been fenced off," she said.

"I was annoyed because we wouldn't have paid to go if they'd made it clear in the car park.

"I know it's only £2 but that's not the point."

The council updated its website to say the play area was shut after receiving a complaint from Catherine Timms via the country park's Facebook page.

"We visited yesterday from Banbury after checking this website for details (weren’t aware of the Facebook page at the point) and so were very disappointed when we arrived to find the park closed," she wrote.

"Very difficult to explain to an upset two-year old why he couldn’t go in."