Campaign for play area fence gathers pace

Local parents are campaigning for a fence to be installed around the new toddler play area in Victoria Park, Newbury

THE campaign calling for a fence to be installed around the new toddler play area in Newbury's Victoria Park, Newbury, has gathered pace this week.

A Facebook group entitled ‘Toddler area in Victoria Park Newbury should be fenced in' has attracted more than 750 members, while local parents have collected hundreds of signatures for a petition calling for a fence.

Newbury mother Alexandra Cook, who set up the group on the social networking website, said she had been really pleased with the response.

“There does seem to be quite a lot of people in agreement with us and I am happy with the response so far, it has been quite positive,” she said.

Mrs Cook said it was likely the petition would be submitted to Newbury Town Council once 1,000 signatures had been collected, while she said she was pleased the town council had said it was willing to listen to people's concerns, as reported in Newburytoday.co.uk's sister newspaper, the Newbury Weekly News, last week.

However, the deputy leader of Newbury Town Council, David Allen (Lib Dem, Victoria), said this week that the town council's Victoria Park working group was considering whether closed circuit television (CCTV) was required in the park following recent acts of vandalism, which he said could impact on any possible installation of a fence.

He said: “We can't afford CCTV and fencing around the new toddler area and we will have to consider what we can do.”