Play area penny-pinching (From Western Telegraph)

Play area penny-pinching

Dear Editor, - Last week there was a national report on how much the area available to children to play in has been reduced in the last 50 years.

Over my time as a parent, I have watched with dismay the steady erosion of facilities in local playgrounds and the patchy provision of youth groups and activities.

While I don't condone the activities of the vandals in Milford Haven, I can only suggest that Pembrokeshire council is reaping the rewards for years of penny-pinching. Now, every householder has to pay for the damage, plus the extra we all pay in car and household insurance for this sort of thing. How much better would it have been to spend this money on keeping the perpetrators off the streets in the first place?

It is a false economy to save a few thousand pounds by not providing decent facilities when set against the cost of not providing them.

Neil Bonnaud 3 Wesley Close, Pleasant Valley, Stepaside.