LISBON Câmara has reacted with surprise and indignation that one of its children’s playgrounds has been given the thumbs down by a public service watchdog. DECO has classified the playground at Alta da Serafina as ‘bad’ in its report, which was later published in the consumer magazine, Proteste. Consumer watchdog DECO awarded a number of classification points for the city’s playgrounds, including evaluations on safety, ease of access, and design and concept. However, the câmara says that many of the points identified in the evaluation carried out, between July and September 2004, have already been addressed. In a council communiqué, it was stated last week that “all the existing attractions for children were supplied and installed according to both national and EU safety standards and came from factories and suppliers that had all the necessary safety certificates”.
However, DECO says that, according to its inspections of 18 playgrounds, up to a dozen in the Greater Lisbon area are not up to scratch (Infantil Santa, Marta da Pinhal, Amizade e Paz, Constantino, among others), while at least one could prove a deathtrap“constituting a danger for children”.
Six playgrounds were labelled ‘mediocre’ (Estrela, Marechal Carmona, Casa da Moeda, Buraca, Revolução 25 de Abril and Estrada de Ameiros), while the rest were considered ‘good’ or ‘adequate’ (Parque das Nações, Príncipe Real, Olivais, Alta de Lisboa, Telheiras and Moinho).
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