Mystery over padlocked play area in Shieldfield after children locked out

Inspections are being increased after children were locked out of a play park, leading to a councillor removing the "unofficial" padlock - and having police called on him.

Gareth Kane, a Lib Dem councillor in Newcastle, said police were called after he took action after being informed the multi-use game area in Shieldfield had been padlocked on both sides - preventing anyone from entering.

Cllr Kane said he became angry due to at least two dozen children being left outside the area on Saturday, unable to enter and play.

He added: “It made me angry that these kids had been deprived.

“We put that in specially to encourage kids to play outside. So, I came down on Sunday morning, slightly ill-prepared, with tools and sawed off the chain, with the help of a passer-by.”

Cllr Kane was satisfied the padlock did not resemble an official Newcastle City Council official padlock. The padlock had also been glued and the keys were later found inside the park itself, which according to Cllr Kane is not council protocol.

The council has since said it does not know who put the padlock on, but added inspections would be stepped up.

He said he was later approached by police officers responding to a report of alleged vandalism in the area.

A Northumbria Police spokesperson confirmed officers had attended the area and were "satisfied no criminal activity had taken place".

Cllr Kane added: “This is a deprived area with lots of kids who are mad keen on football. Everybody is always moaning about kids, that they stay inside and don’t go outside

“The facility was put in to encourage kids to do something active and to do it safely, and it gets put out of action for eight or nine days. We did sometimes get complaints about older youths playing there at night but residents say that hasn’t happened in a long time, and that is not a reason to close the facility.”

A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: “We were made aware that a chain and padlock had been placed on a multi-use games area in the Shieldfield area. By the time maintenance staff had arrived to remove them, one had already been taken off and so they removed the other one.

“It is not known who applied the lock and chain or why, but we will step up our fortnightly inspections of these play areas in the coming weeks.”

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