Crawley Borough Council still has no idea what it will do with the site of an adventure playground it closed in 2021

During a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (March 27), Hazel Hellier (Con, Furnace Green) asked what plans were in place for the Waterlea site, reporting that nothing seemed to have changed in the last 15 months.

And she sought clarification from Chris Mullins, cabinet member for leisure & well-being, that the site would still be used by children after he said it would remain ‘mothballed until a suitable option comes forward for the redevelopment of the site’.

Mr Mullins pointed out that there was a nursery on the site ‘so it’s already still being used by children and there’s no intention to change that’.

But he added that it would be ‘a little bit difficult’ to say it would be purely used for children in the future.

He said: “We’re not in a situation really to completely analyse what we want to do.

“The site’s vacant, it’s mothballed at the moment.

“We want to go forward with it. We want somebody to come forward and give us a suggestion.

“I wouldn’t want to say we’re not going to look at any options that come along because that would be a rather naive position to take.

“What we would do is consider any proposals that came to us.

“Obviously we would consult with local councillors and local residents.

“We want to do something with the site but at the moment it remains mothballed until we can find an answer.”

Mr Mullins said the council had been approached by an organisation which wanted to use the site for padel tennis, but they had since pulled out.

A written response to Ms Hellier’s question said the council would continue to investigate viableoptions and prioritise the Waterlea site as part of its ongoing asset review.