A WORCESTER grandfather has hit out at council workers who, he says, have left a city play area strewn with dangerous rubble.
Gordon Beauchamp claims the play area behind his home in Grisedale Drive, Warndon, is in a "disgusting" state since Worcester City Council removed the climbing frame last week.
He believes it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt.
"They've left two feet deep holes and there's concrete lying all over it," said Mr Beauchamp, who has two young grandchildren.
"I've seen kids playing around there, throwing concrete and last week, I saw a pregnant woman fall over."
He says that the council has left the area, between Langdale Drive and Grisedale Drive, strewn with rubble and open to children, when it should be fenced off.
"There's still a slide in there and it's the only place for children to go, they've got nowhere else," said Mr Beauchamp.
"I've seen loads of children there. It was packed on Sunday."
Mr Beauchamp says that he used to let some of the older children take his grandchildren to the play area, but since the recent demolition he says that he will not let them near it.
The city council says that the recent work has been done as part of a new development in the play area.
But it has denied the area was left in a dangerous condition.
"We removed an igloo structure because it was rotten and then the rubble was levelled," said Mike Harrison, assistant director of the city contracts services.
"Our highways section is going to put down a permanent tarmac surface later today. We've just been delayed by holiday leave and people off sick."
Mr Harrison said council workers left the play area in a "satisfactory" and safe state and that it was only meant as a temporary filling.
"It must have been pulled back out by someone else," he added.
"We'll be going back to fill it in. It just turned out to be more of a complex job than we originally thought."
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