SIR,

As a visitor to Monmouth, I was appalled at the state of the local childrens' playground in Chippenham.

I grew up in Monmouth, so as I know the town well and it was a lovely sunny day, I decided to walk into town and take my children to the park.

Quite frankly, I was disgusted at the lack of play equipment, which has not been changed or updated since I was a child in the 1980s and 90s. Alarmingly, the equipment was ancient and very poorly maintained: paint peeling off, graffiti with 'inappropriate advertising' and the baby-slide, in my opinion, is unusable.

The amount of graffiti and written offensive language was appalling, all of which was noted and questioned by my children, who by the way can read. The council have clearly made no attempt for quite some time to remove the graffiti which I find inexcusable.

It was when I noticed the glass all over the floor that I decided the playground was not a safe or appropriate environment for my, or anyone else's, children to play in.

I do understand that austerity measures are in place and local councils have very little money to play with, but the local council has a duty of care to playground users to maintain it to an acceptable and safe standard.

In my opinion, the playground is a health and safety risk. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states, "There is a duty under Sections 3 and 4 (playgrounds and equipment) to ensure the health and safety of users, so far as is reasonably practicable", therefore Monmouthshire Council you are in breach of the law.

Legal issues aside, as a tax payer and a parent, I believe that all children have a basic and fundamental right to have a safe and clean communal area to play in, Monmouth after all is quite a big town with many families to serve.

If Monmouthshire County Council does not have the funds to significantly improve the playground then fair enough, but at the very least they need to meet their legal obligations and clean it up, repair it, make the area safe and replace damaged equipment.

Monmouth is a pretty town and I get the feeling that the council rely on this fact, thus avoiding investment in a town which truly deserves it. Shame on you Monmouthshire Council.

(Name and address supplied)