Imbil parents push for playground fence to protect children

A group of Imbil parents are pushing for a fence to be built between the town’s playground and the main road, saying it’s an accident waiting to happen

“Countless” near misses with traffic at Imbil’s Yabba Creek playground have prompted a band of the town’s parents to push for a fence to be built across its front.

Caity Fitzgerald said the lack of an enclosure at the front of the popular park was an accident waiting to happen.

“I’ve seen countless kids bolt (from the park),” Mrs Fitzgerald said.

For Miriam Hanmer, close calls with the road were more than a threat; she herself had caught a child on the edge on the main road.

“I was leaving the park and the dad was with his other child down here and so the oldest kid bolted,” Ms Hanmer said.

They say “countless” children have been caught running out of the park and on to the road.

“He made it across (Lambert Hyne Drive) and … he was standing out on the main road.

“When I looked at where the dad was I realised there was no chance of him getting to him.”

Adele Ritchie said adding a gate was not about restricting access; a number of parks across the region, including the all-ability playground at Lake Alford are fully fenced.

“It’s not a matter of us sitting on our phones. I don’t pull my phone out when I’m here because I’m too busy looking at the kids,” Mrs Ritchie said.

With a fence across to the footpath beside the toilet block, there would at least be a funnel point for parents to watch instead of trying to cover a dozen metres of open space in a park with limited sightlines.

The park has a number of sightline problems for visitors.

It would help the children too, the parents say.

“They know where the boundary is and we have a point where we can see them,” Mrs Ritchie said.

“We want the kids to be able to have fun and roam and not have us constantly helicopter them and constantly interrupt their imaginations and their games,” Mrs Fitzgerald said.

Mary Valley councillor Bob Fredman said the park’s design, including its fencing, had been the subject of community consultation before it was built.

Mr Fredman also noted there were arguments being made for and against further fencing of the park.

The construction of any fence was an operational matter, he said, and “I will be passing it on to staff accordingly”.

“I will be asking staff to have a close look at it,” he said.