South Ribble Borough Council closed the popular play area in Withy Grove Park today (Wednesday 18 January) for the slide’s removal.

The play area reopened on Thursday 19 January.

The popular piece of equipment was damaged following two suspected arson incidents in summer 2022 and has been out of bounds since. While it was thought the slide could be repaired, unfortunately the damage was too extensive.

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Councillor Matthew Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets said, “We are disappointed to have had to make the decision to remove the popular tower slide from Withy Grove Park however, the safety of our residents and visitors is paramount and it was deemed that it was unrepairable.

“Withy Grove Park is still a fantastic play area in South Ribble with great equipment for all ages to use and we know residents won’t let this stop them using the much-loved facility.

“We have recently re-surfaced areas of the play area to increase comfort and safety for the users and we are now looking at a replacement piece of play equipment for the area in place of the tower slide.” 

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The site of Withy Grove Park includes the well-used play area, Bamber Bridge leisure centre and the new Bamber Bridge Sports Hub.

Both incidents in relation to the tower slide are being investigated by Lancashire Police.

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