Belvedere Splash Park could close as part of £50 million Bexley Council funding squeeze

Getting rid of the popular attraction in Woolwich Road is one of 39 suggestions the authority has put forward to help tackle a £50.8 million budget gap by 2018.

The park opened in 2005 and is one of the largest free wet play parks in the country, with a lagoon surrounding a desert island and a mini-‘beach’, equipped with water sprinklers, showers, bubble jets and sprays.

Normally open seasonally from May until September, issues with bacteria in the water tank meant it had to be closed for cleaning two days a week last summer rather than one.

On a further eight occasions it was closed for emergency cleaning in response to a soiling incident, or opened late because of technical difficulties.

Debbie Coombs, 43, says she would be prepared to pay to take sons Ben and Jack Adjodha, aged five and Jack two, to the park, which costs £20,000-a-year to run.

The fulltime mum, of Tewson Road, Plumstead, told News Shopper: “I would pay a couple of pounds each for my two boys.

“They love it and you can get little babies in there and older children as well so it’s fantastic for all ages.

“It would be very sad if it had to close.”

Rebecca Erol, 44, of Greening Street, Abbey Wood, says she took six-year-old daughter Meltem to the park at least half-a-dozen times last summer.

The freelance editor and writer said: “Everywhere there are swimming baths but this is an outdoor space.

“On a hot summer’s day it gets absolutely mobbed.

“It’s one of those places that once the kids are there you can’t drag them away.”

The park closes from October to April.

Rachael Thompson, of Kingswood Avenue, Belvedere, has a 15-month-old daughter called Poppy and works in facilities management.

She said: “I think that closing the splash park is a terrible idea, and I am bitterly disappointed in Bexley Council.

“There are hundreds, if not thousands of children that used the  splash park over last summer, my daughter included, and lots of parents I know also use it to meet up with friends with their children.

“I really think we all need to come together as a community to put a stop to this proposed closure, it's only going to work if we all make our voices heard and let Bexley Council know how strongly we feel about it.”

An unnamed Bexley company has offered to turn the park into a normal playground, but without the water features.

Bexley Council say the park needs an additional water tank, new and larger filters, a bigger plant room and upgraded chemical dosing system to ensure that the cleanliness of the water can be better maintained.

A spokesman said: “This work would be costly in the current financial climate and as such the cabinet member for community safety and leisure, Councillor Alex Sawyer, is leading a thorough review.

“This could include considering the possibility of alternative play facilities on the same site if the splash park were to close.

“We take great care over how we spend taxpayers’ money but the council continues to faces very tough financial decisions over the next four years due to increased demand for care services, the impact of inflation and continuing reductions in our government grant.

“We need to find another £50m in savings by 2018. This will be very challenging, and will involve some tough decisions, but it is our responsibility to manage our resources in the best interests of local people.”

Bexley Council’s budget proposals can be viewed at bexley.gov.uk/strategy2018

Have your say by visiting surveymonkey.com/s/strategy2018 or the paper questionnaire will be available shortly at libraries and from the Civic Offices, Bexleyheath.

Will you be affected if Belvedere Splash Park closes? Call 01689 885702, e-mail tim.macfarlan@london.newsquest.co.uk or tweet @NewsShopperTim