CHILDREN in the Wear Valley are losing 15 council-run playgrounds after a report condemned them as unsafe.

Work started on Monday to remove swings and other equipment from the sites and improve another ten.

Nine swings and a slide were cordoned off by the council in the summer when safety checks revealed possible faults.

The inspections followed an accident at Sunniside in July when swings collapsed on an eight-year-old boy.

Now a follow-up report by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) on all the district's 83 playgrounds found that 25 were potentially dangerous, either because the equipment itself was unstable or because it was mounted on concrete or tarmac.

The 15 being removed are close to other sites, while the ten being improved are in isolated areas.

The condemned playgrounds are at Newton Cap, Bishop Auckland; Coundon Station; York Close in Leeholme; St Wilfrid's Walk in South Church; Jubilee Park in Howden-le-Wear; the Eastgate Leisure Complex; Coronation Avenue in Stanhope; Wolsingham Steelworks and seven in Crook at Arthur Street, George Terrace, Greenhead, High Hope Street, Langdale Avenue, Sycamore Gardens and Thistleflat Road.

The council is also reviewing its play area provision throughout the district and has promised to consult residents.