HEALTH and safety is one of the great bugbears of our time, and Durham County Council must feel it cannot win.

It is auditing the play areas under its control and equipment which does not come up to modern standards is to be removed. This has left the Allergate community in Durham City with a very sorry looking toy bike surrounded by patches on the grass where swings, slides and a roundabout used to be. Parents are very disappointed.

At a time when child obesity levels are one of the great health concerns, it seems crazy that play equipment which has been happily enjoyed for 15 years without any history of accident is suddenly plucked out of the ground because regulations have changed since it was made.

To encourage children to be active, play areas need to be within every community, within most people’s walking distance. If it becomes a military operation to drive children across town to the nearest play area, the ones who need the exercise the most will be the ones who don’t make that journey.

Yet should a child have broken a bone on, say, a slide that was manufactured before 1998 and which didn’t meet modern regulations, the council would have faced angry complaints, and possibly lawsuits, from parents. Indeed, a local newspaper such as ourselves might even have weighed in, demanding the council replace out-dated equipment.

Such is the climate we live in.

And such is the financial climate we are facing, replacement of the equipment cannot be guaranteed. Some might even say it is unlikely.

The net result is that one community is left with only a toy bike in a green space, and to the children, that must look like health and safety gone mad.