Redbridge Council is ‘not taking responsibility for maintaining its community facilities’ a playground campaigner has claimed.

Nicola Wyndham, has rejected the council’s claims that action groups should be raising money for maintaining playgrounds like Churchfields Recreation Ground, and not the authority itself.

Ms Wyndham, of Abbotsford Gardens, in Woodford Green, gathered 753 signatures for a petition putting pressure on the council to do something about the drainage issues at Churchfields in November 2014, but it was later rejected.

The mother-of-two said: “This is the council not taking responsibility for maintaining their own community facilities.

“They should be the ones who fund the maintenance of play areas in the borough.

“Waltham Forest and Newham have had great improvements to their play facilities, and what have we had?”

At a health, social care and civic pride service committee meeting last week, the council pledged to fund a £5,000 topography survey of the waterlogged land at Churchfields, but said it could not finance playground maintenance across the borough.

Cabinet member for civic pride, Councillor Dev Sharma, said: “As a council we are under enormous financial pressure.

“There are resources out there for voluntary groups and playground associations, so I think that is the way forward in terms of funding maintenance.”

Ms Wyndham said: “There’s no point doing an inspection of the land if you’re not going to do the work.

“Children are the most important people in our society. They need a place to interact with one another, but they can’t as the space is completely swamped and unusable.”

Cllr Sharma said he did not know when it would be possible to carry out the survey, as the council was yet to find the money.

Conservative councillor for Church End, Tom Mclaren, said: “To hear that the council is not fulfilling its maintenance obligations is extremely disappointing.

“The initial proposal was that the money for the survey would come from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) fund, so I am bemused to say the least that the council hasn’t already put this into action.”

The final decision on the survey will be voted on by the cabinet tomorrow.