Dismay as money for new play area is used to pay for cracks and subsidence repairs

[caption id="attachment_21336" align="alignright" width="345" caption="Victoria Park Nursery and Children's Centre has had to use playground cash to fix repairs"][/caption]

REPAIRING cracks and subsidence at Victoria Park Nursery and Children’s Centre, Newbury, has swallowed up tens of thousands of pounds of cash set aside for new playground equipment.

Dismayed youngsters were due to get a new timber play tower, a beach area and a red train – a model of the version used in the nursery’s decades-old logo – but the money raised through years of fundraising had to be put towards fixing the damage to ensure health and safety regulations were complied with, leaving a £50,000 shortfall.

With no cash in reserve, the project has been put on hold. Headteacher Fiona Bridger-Wilkinson has made a plea to the Newbury public to help out by supporting their fundraising efforts

The annual spring fun day will be held on March 11, the the nursery is selling trolley tokens featuring the train logo, and parent Rachel Dalgarno is running the Bath half-marathon in March. The nursery has set up a Just Text Giving site for anyone who wishes to make a donation. Text VPTR12 and the amount, or donations can be given directly to the school.

The damage, consisting of cracked walls, paths and a fractured and subsidence-affected playground, has plagued the nursery for nearly two years, since similar issues were reported around the same area in spring 2010.

People living nearby complained of splits appearing in the walls of their homes, Victoria Park football pitch was closed to the public due to subsidence, a wall in Park Way began to crumble and huge fractures appeared in the paths around the park.

Initially the damage was linked to water extraction works carried out by the Parkway contractor Costain, which was sucking thousands of gallons of groundwater out to build an underground car park for the shopping centre, although the firm repeatedly blamed dry weather for the problems.

When questioned whether it would make a goodwill gesture to the nursery, the owner of the centre, Standard Life Investment, directed the query to Costain.

A spokesman for Costain, Graham Read, said: “Advice from our consultants so far appears to shows that the construction of Parkway did not contribute to the problems in Victoria Park.

“We worked with Newbury Town Council, providing the large quantity of documentation that was requested as quickly as possible for the independent research they were carrying out, and will continue to assist where possible.”

Newbury Town Council began steps to uncover the cause of the problems, but despite the investigation expected to be completed within weeks it announced last week that a survey and additional legal costs had cost £18,000.

The West Berkshire Council portfolio holder for children and young people, Irene Neill (Con, Aldermaston) said that her department had been alerted to the issue of damage and action taken by the nursery in November.

“The council’s assets management team is currently investigating. Following half-term, I will be going into the school to meet with them,” she said.