Council bounces family trampoline

A TRAMPOLINE which helped two young children make friends in a new town has been confiscated by the council, amid claims it poses a danger to the community.

Anthony Buckingham, 11, and Tamsin Buckingham, 10, with mum Richelle Buckingham of Ballina, who has been taken to court and fined by the Ballina Shire Council for having a trampoline set up on the footpath. . Picture: Jay Cronan

A TRAMPOLINE which helped two young children make friends in a new town has been confiscated by the Ballina Shire Council.

But the council says the trampoline was on public land without permission and that it could have posed a danger to the community.

Eleven-year-old Anthony Buckingham and his sister Tamsin, 10, were devastated when the council took away the trampoline which, for two years, had been set up out the front of the family’s Jarrett Street home.

In a heartfelt letter to The Northern Star, Anthony said it was ‘unfair’.

“When we first moved to Ballina we didn’t know anybody so we put our trampoline outside the front of our house hoping to attract other kids to play with,” he said.

“We made friends in our street, and for two years there was no problem.

“But one day there was a complaint made to the council about our trampoline.”

The council’s acting regulatory services group manager, Vince Hunt, confirmed a complaint was lodged in January.

“We sent three letters in February requesting that it be removed from the nature strip,” he said.

“As a council, we would be liable if something went wrong.

“We gave plenty of warning – we said we would impound it and they had the opportunity to move it.”

But it didn’t end there.

Mum Richelle Buckingham was then fined $100 over the issue, which she refused to pay.

The matter was finalised in court last month, with Ms Buckingham ordered to pay the fine and $79 in court costs.

Originally published as Council bounces family trampoline