AN Aberystwyth councillor has lodged an official complaint with the Children’s Commissioner over the town council’s refusal to reopen parks.

Play areas across Wales, which are largely the responsibility of town and community councils, have been allowed to reopen since July, but Aberystwyth Town Council has taken the decision to keep the area’s play areas closed.

At the beginning of September, Aberystwyth Town Council held an extraordinary meeting where councillors said they would reopen parks in the area, namely Castle Park, Plascrug and Penparcau, if possible this month.

Father-of-two, Cllr Alex Mangold, says that on 14 September, during a meeting, the council backtracked on that decision, citing concerns raised by one of the schools that were contacted.

He said: “In the same meeting, it was decided that the town’s most popular playground, Castle Park, was not to be opened at all - due to its ’popularity’ and its apparently ’enclosed equipment’.

“It seems to me that the concerns raised were used as a ’carte blanche’ to indefinitely postpone the opening of all playgrounds.”

Cllr Mangold added: "I have today (Friday) filed an official complaint on behalf of my children with the Children’s commissioner for Wales against Aberystwyth Town Council. “This was not an easy decision.

“But the town council’s prolonged refusal to open the playgrounds in Aberystwyth and their unwillingness to listen to parents and to the wider public (or to follow Welsh Gov guidelines) left me with no other option.

“I feel strongly about this and I will always stand up for children’s rights. I am grateful for the parents who have contacted me to express their support and for all those who have shared their views with me.

“While I believe that reasonable measures and signage should be in place before opening the playgrounds, I am convinced that we owe it to our children to give the public a choice. “With reasonable measures in place, it should be up to the parents to decide if they want to enter a play area or not.

“I invite all concerned parents to write to the commissioner about the continued and unfair treatment of children in our area (closed gym clubs, halls, playgrounds etc).”

The issue of play areas being closed in Aberystwyth was raised in a Ceredigion County Council scrutiny committee earlier this month, where one of the town’s county councillors, Mark Strong, praised the decision.

He said: “The town council stuck their necks out and have been very unpopular whilst securing the safety of other local residents.”

Chief Executive of Ceredigion County Council, Eifion Evans, said that the closure of the parks in the town supported the local schools’ ‘bubble’ systems and if children were then to start mixing in the park it would “mean that the bubbles were pointless.”

“I’m thankful to the town council in Aberystwyth for coming to the right decision in my opinion.”