ANGRY parents stopped council workmen from dismantling play equipment in West Kilbride on Monday morning amid dramatic scenes.

A plea had been made by village councillor Joy Brahim for a community group to come forward to take over the running of Craufurd swing park in January.

But the cut-off date in mid-February had passed with no firm offer, and the council attempted to remove the equipment on Monday morning.

However, a number of young mums headed to the park and stayed in position, resulting in the council workmen having to leave Craufurd swing park facility.

Laura Parker said: “The council workmen moved in on Monday morning when the children were at school and we were horrified. I told them that I wasn’t going to move. I appreciate the guys were only doing their job and we are not letting them move in.

“This would be terrible to lose the swing park as our kids don’t have anything else. There is another park but you have to cross a main road to get there

“There was no notification to us that this swing park was getting removed. It is a very valued park and a lot of our children hang out there. There have been complaints of graffiti and vandalism in the area - things are going to get worse if there is nothing to do.”

Another mum Pamela Burns added: “My daughter Tegan is aged seven regularly uses the park, and the look of devastation on her face if the park was to go would be so sad.”

At its budget setting meeting on 9 December 2014, North Ayrshire Council agreed to reduce its play park budget by £50,000 and remove 46 play parks in financial year of 2017/18, including Craufurd Avenue.

Following discussions with Meadowfoot Tenants and Residents Association in early 2017, council officers then agreed to delay closure of Craufurd Avenue play park, in order that it could potentially benefit from an upgrade through Estate Based Project funding while arrangements were made within the community to take over.

However, no application was made and no take over has been achieved to date.

Councillor Joy Brahim said: “It is very regrettable that no community group came forward - we are in a situation that the swing park is going to be removed,and that decision was taken before my time, and it is a shame that it has to close.

“In the end, we needed to look towards a community asset transfer which was the only option left, but nobody came forward.

“It is with regret that this is happening and to the mums I would say ‘fair play’ to them for making their views known and trying to stop this. It is a very regrettable situation.”

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “We were extremely disappointed that staff were threatened and subjected to intimidating behaviour when they arrived to remove the items from the park on Monday morning.

“We have been left with no choice but to padlock the gates as we were unable to remove all items safely. Despite placing precautionary hazard tape on the items, this was ripped off. This now poses a health and safety risk.

“We are currently speaking with Police Scotland on the matter and will be looking to remove all the items from the park at a suitable date.”

The spokesperson added: “The decision to remove the swing park in Crauford Park was one we took in 2015 when we agreed on our budget for the following three years.

“It was a not a decision we took lightly. Negotiations on a community asset transfer were extensive and the date for closure of the park was delayed a number of times at the request of the community groups to give them the opportunity to progress this option. Unfortunately no community group wished to progress this.

“We were advised late on Monday evening that a further group may now be interested in progressing an asset transfer and we are currently looking to find out more about their proposals and how we can assist them.

“We would urge people not to enter the playpark at this time."