Measures are to be taken to restore a Kirkcaldy playpark to its former glory as soon as possible, Fife Council has confirmed.
Children in the Linktown area of town were devastated to find vandals had targeted the park between Saunders Street and Alison Street a week ago, when youths set fire to two wheelie bins and placed them underneath a slide and climbing frame.
The equipment was destroyed and had to be removed, while part of the safety surface on the ground was also badly damaged. But locality manager for central Kirkcaldy Gordon Hope has stressed that action will be taken as soon as possible to get the playpark back to normal.
“The type of equipment we have down there is quite robust and we haven’t had a lot of trouble with vandalism,” he said. “It is unfortunate that some people choose to carry out acts like this which affect communities and replacing it can take some time but it will be done as soon as possible.”
The cost of repairing or replacing the play equipment is expected to be somewhere in the region of £15,000 and area parks officer for Kirkcaldy Alastair Oswald admitted it could take a while to get things back up and running.
“This obviously happened during the night and nobody seemed to know about it until the fire brigade turned up,” he said.
“It could be some time before we get it replaced as we will have to get some funding together for it and I’ve no word on that as yet, but it’s a real shame because the local people had put a lot of time and money into the playpark.”
Local councillor Alice Soper said she had been saddened to hear about what had happened and will do what she can to ensure new equipment is in place sooner rather than later.
Police confirmed yesterday that no-one has yet been traced in connection with the fire-raising incident, which is understood to have taken place at around 3am on Thursday, August 5.
Anyone who can shed some light on those responsible should contact police on 0845 600 5702.
Photo courtesy of Stewart Lloyd-Jones.