Barlow Road Playground

From the front page of the October 2012 print edition:

Wendover born and bred Leona Wheals is heading up a campaign to save and restore the Barlow Road Playground. She is receiving support from Wendover Parish Councillors and Aylesbury Vale District Councillors as shown on page 16 (includes petition details). Weston Turville AVDC Councillor Phil Yerby is equally interested: “I am concerned that AVDC could be selling any piece of land without it going on the open market, let alone what was previously a children’s playground. AVDC have disposed of several land assets recently and I am concerned that we could be selling off the family silver at a time when land values are low.”

This is the article which appeared on page 16 of that issue:

Leona Wheals has lived in Wendover all her life. She remembers the fun she had as a child playing on the swings and slides dotted around the village in various places. One of the most hidden was off footpaths from Barlow Road and Tring Road. She was very surprised when, as an adult, she discovered that the play equipment had been removed from this “Barlow Road” playground. It’s only a small area but she has photos of this park and knows for sure it had a climbing frame, swings for children and babies, slide, somersault bar, roundabout and see-saw .

Now that she is a mother herself, she is very upset to find that AVDC plans to sell this piece of land for housing. All this during the “legacy” period after our brilliant Olympian and Paralympian Year when we are supposed to have stopped selling off playing fields in order to encourage our youngsters to go out and be more active!

This piece of land is ideal for the children who live on the hillside rising from Tring Road. It’s a long way and across dangerous roads for tiny feet to find another playground. The nearest is on RAF land with signs warning non-RAF people not to use the facilities.

Wendover Parish Council says: the playing field has always belonged to and has remained the responsibility of AVDC. It is believed that the playground was closed approximately 12 years ago due to persistent vandalism of the play equipment.

AVDC Councillor Steve Bowles says: ‘‘ I have recently been made aware that AVDC may have plans to sell the Barlow Road play area. To ensure I am in full possession of the facts before commenting further I have contacted the relevant officer at AVDC to ascertain the full details of this matter. One concern I would have other than the loss of the play area is that the next nearest play area would mean crossing a main road. I will comment further when I have the full facts.”

Leona Wheals says: if you haven’t yet signed my written petition, please log on towww.ipetitions.com/petition/save-barlow-road-land-rebuild-the-park/