Mum Seraiah Chase refuses to let her children play at the Susan St playground any more after discovering hoards of broken glass strewn through the bark. Photo / Andrew Warner
Mum Seraiah Chase refuses to let her children play at the Susan St playground any more after discovering hoards of broken glass strewn through the bark. Photo / Andrew Warner
A Rotorua mother is calling for a permanent solution to the ongoing issue of broken glass in the bark of her neighbourhood playground after her children were cut several times.
Seraiah Chase won't let her young children use the Susan St playground any more after they kept coming home with bleeding cuts, caused by broken glass strewn throughout the playground's bark.
Chase raised the issue with Rotorua Lakes Council and suggested replacing the bark with rubber mats but the council has told the Rotorua Daily Post that option would be too expensive, with a price tag of $57,000.
Instead, the council has opted to fully replace the bark twice, most recently in July 2019 at a cost of $18,000, and the playground is routinely inspected. The previous replacement was in December 2017 at a cost of $15,000.
Council sport, recreation and environment manager Rob Pitkethley said contractors were on site within two hours of Chase's complaint and staff spent an hour combing through the bark and removing glass.
A handful of glass found in the playground bark on Tuesday. Photo / Andrew Warner
However, when the Rotorua Daily Post's photographer visited the site with Chase on Tuesday, a handful of glass was pulled from the bark.
Chase, a mother of five, said she had lived in the area for a year and about five months ago her children started coming home from the playground with cuts on their feet.
"These weren't just little nicks either, they were bleeding.
"About a month later my son told me he was cut by glass at the playground so I went down and picked some up."
Chase said she hadn't realised how bad the problem was until she had to pick up more glass at the weekend.
"There was so much, the pile of glass I collected was just from 1 sq m and the pieces were getting finer and finer.
"There's no way I'm going to let my children play there any more.
The glass Seraiah Chase collected at Susan St playground at the weekend. Photo / Supplied
"It's so sad to see, our babies want to have fun at the park, there isn't another one in the immediate vicinity but this one has become too dangerous."
A post made by Chase on social media detailing her find garnered more than 80 comments, with many saying glass in the playground's bark had been a problem for years.
Others said they, too, wouldn't let their children play at the playground any more.
Chase said she knew who the culprits were.
"It's teenagers. I've heard them out there at midnight. It's a shame their parents don't care enough about what their kids are doing or where they are that late at night."
Chase reported the glass to the council and she said she was told the bark would be replaced.
"If the bark just keeps getting replaced, it's going to keep happening. I was told rubber mats were too expensive but can you really put a price on our children's safety?"
In response to Rotorua Daily Post Weekend questions, Pitkethley said the bark at this playground had been entirely replaced twice, the most recently in July 2019 at a cost of $18,000.
"This [cost] includes removal of the bark and underlying foundation, disposal, purchase of the new bark and transportation.
"We have a record of six complaints from the public since 2015. The playground is routinely inspected approximately every fortnight and glass removal is part of that inspection.
"The estimated cost for rubber matting is $57,000. Rubber mats are not damage-proof and are significantly more expensive to replace or fix than bark."
At the time, council staff were "looking at options", one of which was to tear the playground down, after "ongoing issues with vandalism and deliberate placement of broken glass in the playground which has created major safety issues".
Nearly three years later, the playground remains, despite the problem appearing to have persisted.
However, Pitkethley said removal of a playground would be a very last resort and did not believe this occasion was deliberate vandalism, rather a case of litter.
"The reason we carried out a full replacement of the bark in the past was because it appeared that glass had been intentionally buried within the bark.
"The bark was fully replaced to ensure any glass buried deep was removed. On this occasion it appears that the glass was litter as opposed to being left to cause harm."
Pitkethley said the Susan St playground was well used and the community should be able to use and enjoy it safely.
"Vandalism or the mistreatment of community spaces is an issue that we deal with daily and district-wide.
"Sadly, there are always people who choose to do the wrong thing. This is a community issue that requires a long-term community ownership approach.
"We encourage people to report any issues to the council as soon as they can and if they see any antisocial or criminal behaviour to report it to the police."
