On Tuesday Basildon councillors descended on Langdon Hills Recreation Ground to officially open the new play area, half of a £250,000 project to revamp the park areas in Langdon Hills and Vange.
The area known locally as “The Rec” now includes a pirate ship with slide and tunnel as well as the usual roundabouts and swings. Apart from a few elements salvaged from the previous playground, the new elements are made from natural wood sculptures with sand and grass to soften the area instead of the previous soft tarmac.
While the younger kids will enjoy the tradiitional elements of the park, some of the teenagers from the area have already started to make use of the large tree-stumps to practice backflips into the sand. These and other tricks form the current freerunning and parkour craze fueled by videos on Youtube.
While the construction work was ongoing there were complaints about some children breaking into the area. In the last few weeks the construction workers had been allowing them in during the evening. At one point the police turned up and took names of some children in the park. According to a council worker no real harm was done in Langdon Hills except that some barriers were knocked down overnight. The identical playground in Vange has not fared so well with significant vandalism affecting the area during building.
There have been concerns raised about the long standing problem in the area with people entering the park late at night on Fridays and Saturdays. They often arrive in cars after pub closing and use the area for late drinking time. Often broken bottles and even syringes and condoms are left to be found in the morning. With the potential dangers caused by hidden glass in the sand the locals hope the police will act to stamp out this anti-social behavior. The council worker who I spoke to this morning was well aware of these problems and has vowed to keep the place safe and clean.
Langdon Hills News 