Playground inquiry will cost around £20k

Jun 30 2009 By Russell Butt

Playground campaigner, Alison Berry, and daughter Amelia, now 10

Runnymede Council is to spend around £20,000 on a public inquiry to decide whether three pieces of equipment can be added to a village playground.

The council's Corporate Management Committee agreed on Thursday to finance an inquiry into the hotly contested application for an extension to the playground on Englefield Green.

The application, which is on Common Land and the Green Belt, had been put to the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol after Runnymede Planners failed to come to an agreement due to strong opposition from a small minority in the village who don't want the playground, but the inspectorate was also unable to resolve the proposals returned the decision that the application should go to public inquiry.

Mother-of-three, Alison Berry, from Bulkley Close, Englefield Green, has been campaigning for four years to get the equipment, as there was no equipment suitable for her daughter Amelia, who was at the time, six-years-old.

Even though her daughter may now be too old for the play equipment if it is approved, she feels that the committee's decision was a victory for democracy.

She said: "It sounds dramatic but it really is. My whole premise is that there is a very small minority that don't want the playground and they have ground the planning process to a halt. It's a few people against a whole village. I am galled at the need to spend it and find it hard to justify but there's no alternative."

Mrs Berry's sentiments were echoed by Englefield Green West councillor, Michael Kusneraitis, who said: "It is sad that it has come to this for a swing, roundabout and climbing frame, but we have to invest in the children of the village. To tell the truth I don't think there's a councillor on the whole council who wants to spend that money, but it has to be done."

Former mayor, Councillor Hugh Meares, added: "It was felt that the council could not be put off by a small group of vocal protestors and so reluctantly we agreed to make the necessary sum of money available."

The public inquiry is due to take place in the village in November and is expected to last three days.