AN EYESORE playground dubbed “Chernobyl-on-Sea” by locals, has been demolished by the council following pressure from residents.
The play area had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it consisted of only a swing set without chains, a small seesaw, and a rusted climbing frame.
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Locals blamed the local Labour council for allowing the playground to fall into such “decrepitude”, complaining that there was just ‘nothing left’ apart from a “manky old sandpit”.
Southampton City Council has now removed the playground, leaving one of the few accessible waterfront areas in the Hampshire city looking bare.
The removal followed complaints from locals about the “eyesore” on Weston Shore, the city’s only remaining beach.
Graham Westerling, a resident, said his family has lived in the area since the 1920s and frequently used the playground.
“The park’s current decrepitude is, I believe, council policy,” said the 77-year-old.
“They have built a new playground across the road and see the old one on the shore as wasteful.
“The park has been changed many times since I first went there in the late 40s.”
Mr Westerling revealed he used to play in the park as a child, as did his children.
“The shore has been our playground for all of that time,” the retired toolmaker and hovercraft designer said.
“The remains of the park are shabby but the area is still well-used.
“When the ice cream van quits I’ll know we’re in trouble.”
The stretch is popular with residents as it is one of the only accessible parts of the waterfront in Southampton.
Retired contracts manager Julie Bishop recently visited the once-derelict playground with her young granddaughter.
“There’s just nothing left here apart from a manky old sand pit,” the 67-year-old said.
“It’s not a park anymore.
“It used to be but they have just taken everything away, it’s just an area on the seafront.
“There’s nothing here – it’s a bit of an eye sore.”
‘WASTE OF LAND’
The playground has faced heavy criticism from locals online, with many branding it “a disgrace”.
On social media, one user asked if they had filmed HBO’s Chernobyl there because it looks “remarkably similar”.
Another likened the sand pit to a “litter tray”, and another called the playground ‘depressing’ and a “waste of land”.
The council recently said the park was only closed because the equipment was being repaired.
A swing set without chains and a rusty helicopter climbing frame were among the few remaining structures.
Lyn Graham lived near the playground when she was younger but now lives in Sholing with her husband Malcolm.
The 78-year-old said: “If people come down to the shore with their kids, they don’t want to go back over there to the other park.
“This was the playground I went to when I was younger, it was lovely then.”
Along with the park, four shelters and numerous seating areas, built in the 1930s, are located along the shoreline.
Weston resident, Robert Stead sent a letter to the local paper regarding the playground.
He said: “As a resident of the Weston Estate, I know how much residents value our shore.
“Clearly something not shared by the Southampton council, who are only too happy to neglect it in favour of their other pet projects in the city.”
Council leader Lorna Fielker announced plans to build a new play area nearby.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Cllr Fielker added: “The play area was closed as the old equipment was no longer safe and beyond repair.
“The council has already run a public consultation on a proposal for a new and exciting play area close by in the field adjacent to Weston Parade, we are finalising plans to build this, and we look forward to announcing the installation date in the new year.”
What happened at Chernobyl
THE nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl claimed 31 lives as well as leaving thousands of people and animals exposed to potentially fatal radiation.
When an alarm bellowed out at the nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, workers looked on in horror as the control panels signaled a major meltdown in the number four reactor.
The safety switches had been switched off in the early hours to test the turbine but the reactor overheated and generated a blast – the equivalent of 500 nuclear bombs.
The reactor’s roof was blown off and a plume of radioactive material was blasted into the atmosphere.
As air was sucked into the shattered reactor, it ignited flammable carbon monoxide gas causing a fire which burned for nine days.
The catastrophe released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Soviet authorities waited 24 hours before evacuating the nearby town of Pripyat – giving the 50,000 residents just three hours to leave their homes.
After the accident traces of radioactive deposits were found in Belarus where poisonous rain damaged plants and caused animal mutations.
But the devastating impact was also felt in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, France and the UK.
An 18-mile radius known as the “Exclusion Zone” was set up around the reactor following the disaster.
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