by Newswire

Wandsworth’s Conservative Council has proposed to pilot a weekend fee of £2.50 per child at Battersea Park adventure playground.

The council, which is looking to raise revenues and make crippling cuts across its public services, says that the park has high maintenance charges.

It now wants to recoup those costs by charging kids to play.

If this pilot is successful the Director of Children’s Services will extend the charges to weekdays in the school holidays.

The council says that during the pilot, charges will not be levied on weekdays during school holidays, or after school hours during term time.

In a statement issued today, Ken Livingstone said

Only the Conservative Party could consider charging kids to play. I believe London’s parks and playgrounds should be free for London’s families and I am deeply concerned at this attempt by the Conservatives to turn publicly funded playgrounds into areas which only the rich and privileged can enjoy. This appalling proposal will reinforce fears that the outgoing leader of Wandsworth Council, Eddie Lister is set to drive through a hard-right agenda at City Hall in his new role as Boris Johnson’s chief of staff.

The leader of Wandsworth Council, Eddie Lister, was recently appointed Chief of Staff by London Mayor Boris Johnson

A petition calling for the Wandsworth council to abandon the proposals is here

Update:

In a debate on BBC London Radio on today, the council admitted the proposal wouldn’t actually raise more money. Left Foot Forward got the transcript.

Conservative cabinet member for Education and Children’s Services Kathy Tracey said:

[It is] not budget saving, just a pilot to see if it affects usage.

…

We have lowest rates in country – we have three adventure playgrounds and one of only authorities that do, we have invested £3 million in parks and playgrounds, battersea park has 3m visitors a year.

Unbelievable. It’s just to test if the cost affects usage.