MADAM,

I was raised in Monmouth more than 25 years ago and now have my own young children here. Even as a teenager, Chippy playground was used frequently by truanting school children as a place to hang out and avoid detection, and by those wishing to smoke a fag in secret after school. It is used in the same way today.

After some money was spent on the playground a few years ago, including the addition of new play items, new flooring and railings around the perimeter, the misuse of the playground continued, and with it the same atmosphere of cold neglect. To re-iterate: the improvements to the playground did nothing to improve its atmosphere.

Having heard more recently that needles were found in the playground, I avoid taking my children there now altogether.

Consider then, how Monmouth looks to visitors with young families. They see Waitrose - great, a free toilet. They see the river and pedestrianised area by the bridge - great, they can feed the ducks. They see Chippy park- a huge green area for kids to run and kick a ball. Then they find the playground, if they persist in hunting for it.

They will see the decay, the spaces where mystery play items have disintegrated and been removed but not replaced. They will see and hear the road they drove into town on, in fact they will smell it too. They will see a huge wall bearing down on the whole space on the one side and a high bank you can’t see over on the other. Having experienced Monmouth’s main playground, I wonder what assumptions they would make about the rest of the town.

A few years ago I actually met a family in the playground who were visiting Monmouth as a stop-off on a longer journey. They were shocked that this is the main playground for the town. I agreed.

Monmouth’s hugely successful skate park (Monmouth Off Street Project) was the idea and vision of individuals who responded in action to the need this town has for a healthy play-space for teenagers. And it has made the town better for those who live in it.

If you still have absolutely no idea what is wrong with the location of Monmouth playground, I recommend that you get the bus to Hereford and look at theirs (the one by the leisure centre). It is a gem in their community, an open place of laughter, light and space.

Mrs C Barker

(Monmouth)