Moulton could get play area if plans get green light

Children in Moulton will have their long-awaited play area next summer… if plans receive approval from South Holland District Council.

Council Leader, Coun Gary Porter, is hopeful that his proposals to safeguard the whole of The Park in Moulton for the future will get agreement from fellow councillors by the end of this year. And he said if all goes smoothly he can see no reason why children should not be enjoying a play area in The Park by next summer.

He gave the news to Moulton resident Andrew Malkin, who he met after he contacted Coun Porter asking why, after almost four years since the council bought The Park there was still no public access and Moulton was still without a play area.

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The council bought the 23-acre mature parkland at auction early in 2016 for £302,000 to address a shortage of green open space in the district.

“More importantly for Moulton it presented an opportunity for the village to have a children’s play area - the one amenity it has not had for decades,” said Andrew, of Hallgate.

Andrew, a former Moulton parish councillor said attempts down the years by the parish council to find an area of land suitable for a play area had been fruitless. Purchase by the district council of The Park in 2016 presented a golden opportunity.

Coun Porter explained that progress on the project had been delayed as it is part of a bigger scheme to protect the asset of a number of parcels of land across the district earmarked as part of a big tree-planting and open green space improvement scheme. Coun Porter said the green spaces project is just one of a number he is most concerned to protect against asset stripping in the event that central Government disassembles the current local authority organisation in favour of much bigger, single unitary authorities.

Both agreed they had been frustrated by the delay in Moulton, compounded by some long-term staff illness at the district council.

Andrew said: “I first began campaigning for Moulton to have its own play area when my four sons were little. They have now all grown up and I have seven-year-old grandchildren, I look forward to seeing the padlocks and ‘trespassers will be prosecuted’ sign coming down and the grazing sheep moving out so that I can take my granddaughters to the playground in The Park next summer.”

The district council will transfer an area of The Park to the Moultons Parish Council , which has earmarked £50,000 for the play area.