Mum criticises yobs who torched children's play area in Northampton

Hayley White of Goldings contacted the Chronicle & Echo after the slide on her estate was torched by yobs on Sunday at about 3pm.

The playground, located in Goldings Road, is overseen by Growing Together and is one of 150 local programmes funded by a £1m grant from the Big Lottery Fund across England.

The operational areas covered by Growing Together are Lumbertubs, Blackthorn, Cherry Lodge, Goldings, Lings and Overstone Lodge estates.

Hayley said: "It's so sad when one or more mindless idiots spoil things for others.

"This sadly isn't the first incident of damage since Growing Together spent Lottery funding on a lovely playground for the children of Goldings, when the playground equipment was being put in someone sadly stole the baby swing before the playground was even open, which had since been replaced, then the older children's swing was damaged beyond repair, which most recently has been replaced with a skateboard balance board.

"Many of us in Goldings have been asking for a safe play area with equipment for quite a while so when it was all installed it was lovely to see so many happy children of all ages playing there together happily.

Programme coordinator, Peter Strachan said the partnership board is set to host a meeting tomorrow and will make a decision about replacing the equipment.

Hayley added: "I can see that there will be many unhappy children here in Goldings.

"They will wonder why there is not a slide and climbing rings for them to play on and why someone felt the need to destroy their equipment for the fun of it.

"I hope that if we as a community can come together and organise a fun day with stall holders, face painters, cake stalls and locally made items. Perhaps we can raise enough money to put towards either replacing the equipment or fund a CCTV, which should be installed to watch over the playground as a deterrent."