For our latest trip down Helensburgh's memory lane we're travelling back 10 years to the story of how a new play park in the town quickly turned to disappointment for local residents.
Here's how we reported on the Kirkmichael facility in the Advertiser on October 8, 2009...
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A CATALOGUE of errors and bad planning has turned a Kirkmichael dream into a nightmare.
The plans for creating a children’s playpark next to the new all weather pitch and skatepark on the Helensburgh estate were greeted with an enthusiasm which soon turned to disappointment.
The swing, when it appeared, was much smaller than the Kirkmichael Tenants and Residents Association had been led to expect.
There was no equipment for toddlers, the old slide, which is riddled with rust, was left unrepaired, and the only other piece of equipment provided was a rocking climber.
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There was no waste bin, and thousands of pounds were spent on a fancy fence which already has paint flaking off it.
The ground was not cleared and levelled and is subject to flooding and the hole, where an old roundabout had once been, has been left to fill up with water.
KTRA chairman Catherine Collins said this week: “It has just been such a huge disappointment from our point of view.
“We saw the photos of the park at Luss in the Advertiser and even as it is now it is so much better than anything we have.
“There are between 400 and 500 children in this estate, and right up to about 16 the kids use the play park, but this is just a mud bath.”
Local councillor Vivien Dance has been trying to resolve the situation and she admitted this week: “This has not been the council’s finest hour.”
She continued: “We have been sadly lacking in the way this project has been managed.
"When the plans were first discussed two years ago we knew that the park had to be completed by March this year to meet the end of the financial year, but by March 4, it had not even been started.
“The ground was supposed to be levelled, all the builder’s rubble in the area removed and the slide was supposed to be repaired before the new equipment went in and none of that was done.
“Now the paint is peeling off the new fence and the gates which are supposed to be dog proof don’t work properly.”
However, Councillor Dance has promised this week that the work will be done to repair the gates and the slide and the fence is being dealt with through the supplier.
She is also pursing the need to level and drain the site and the provision of some lighting.
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