Mum frustrated by forgotten playgrounds

Equipment at Wadsley Park Village playground is missing or vandalised

Dawn Pooley, who has three children and lives in Hillsborough, believes her local playgrounds in S6 have had far less investment over the years than parks in S10 and S11.

In particular, she says Hillsborough, Rivelin and Wadsley Park Village playgrounds are run-down with equipment which is old or badly vandalised.

Mrs Pooley said: “Having lived in S6 for the last 18 years I’ve seen the standards of playground equipment drop dramatically. It frustrates me that I have to drive to playgrounds in S10 or S11.

“Hillsborough and Rivelin are both popular parks, well used by many, yet in comparison to Millhouses and Endcliffe they have not seen the same level of investment or maintenance.

“The Wadsley Park Village playground used to be really good but over the past few years swings and wigwams have been removed, there’s no longer a mini assault course and the remaining equipment is covered in graffiti.

“It feels like S6 is an area which is easy to ignore as it is neither a problem area not monied.”

Sheffield Council says it’s spent tens of thousands of pounds in S6 parks and there’s more investment to come.

At Hillsborough, £50,000 was spent on a forest play area, £32,000 on “inclusive play” and £13,000 on the tennis courts. Another £45,000 of playground improvements are planned over the next year.

Rivelin saw £270,000 spent on renovating the paddling pools, £20,000 on replacing swings, seesaw and a roundabout and £3,000 on trail equipment.

The council says Wadsley Park Village playground has been vandalised over the years causing equipment to be removed but new £5,000 swings have been fitted.

Paul Billington, the council’s director of culture and environment at, said: “Despite major budget pressures in the council, every effort is made to support our parks and playgrounds.

“Whilst we would love to invest even more, we believe that our parks staff are doing a great job both in maintaining our facilities and securing funding to pay for improvements. We still have some of the best parks in the UK and we’re rightly proud of them.”