Response 4082538

Response to request for information

Reference

4082538

Response date

25 September 2026

Request

I’d like to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for any recorded information relating to this matter. In particular, I’d be grateful if you could provide copies of:

1. Any risk assessment relating to the playing field gates.
2. Any accessibility assessment or Equality Impact Assessment relating to the decision not to install self-closing gate mechanisms.
3. Any reports, meeting notes or other documents that explain how this decision was reached.
4. Any policies, guidance or standards that were relied upon when deciding that self-closing gate mechanisms would not be suitable for the playing field entrances.

If any of these documents don’t exist or aren’t held by the council, I’d appreciate it if you could simply let me know.

I want to understand the reasoning behind the decision, especially as I feel that a suitable self-closing mechanism could improve safety for everyone using the park without significantly affecting accessibility. Thanks again for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Response

1. Any risk assessment relating to the playing field gates. - Information not held.
2. Any accessibility assessment or Equality Impact Assessment relating to the decision not to install self-closing gate mechanisms. - Information not held.
3. Any reports, meeting notes or other documents that explain how this decision was reached. - Information not held.
4. Any policies, guidance or standards that were relied upon when deciding that self-closing gate mechanisms would not be suitable for the playing field entrances. - Information not held.
    

Review

I would like to request an internal review of the response please.

The reason I would like the decision reviewed is that your previous email stated:

As part of our assessment, we considered the need to ensure that the entrances remain fully accessible and easy to operate for all visitors. However, your FOI response confirms that there is no recorded risk assessment, accessibility assessment, Equality Impact Assessment, report, meeting note, policy, guidance or other documentation relating to the decision.

This has left me wondering what the assessment referred to in your previous email actually consisted of and how the decision was reached. I fully appreciate that the council needs to ensure that public facilities remain accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, mobility aids and pushchairs. I am not suggesting that accessibility should be compromised.

My concern is that the potential safety issue of the gates routinely being left open also needs to be properly considered. The playing field is enclosed, but in practice both gates are very frequently left wide open. This creates a foreseeable risk of dogs or young children leaving the enclosed area and potentially entering the adjacent busy roads.

If no formal risk or accessibility assessment was carried out, could you please explain how the council assessed and balanced these two considerations when deciding that self-closing gates were unsuitable?

I would also be interested to understand why self-closing gates are considered appropriate for the children’s playground within the same site, but apparently not for the entrances to the playing field. I understand that the two areas serve different purposes, but both need to be accessible and I would therefore be grateful if you could explain what specifically makes a self-closing mechanism acceptable in one area but unsuitable in the other.

Finally, as the council has chosen Please Close the Gate signs as the alternative measure, could you please explain what consideration was given to whether signage would actually be an effective way of controlling the risk, given that the gates are already routinely being left open despite visitors being expected to close them?

I am not trying to make this unnecessarily difficult. I simply want to understand the basis for the decision and be reassured that both accessibility and the safety of people and animals using the site have been properly considered.

I would therefore appreciate it if the internal review could address the points above and clarify what assessment was actually undertaken in reaching the decision.

Response

Following the internal review, the original response is upheld as there are no records of the type requested.  We have considered your request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) because you are requesting environmental information as defined by Regulation 2(1) of the EIR.  Regulation 2(1)(c) of the EIR relates to measures (including administrative measures), such as policies, legislation, plans, programmes, environmental agreements, and activities affecting or likely to affect elements of the environment as well as measures or activities designed to protect those elements.  

There is a presumption in favour of disclosure of environmental information under regulation 12(1) of the EIR.  However, on review and in accordance with regulation 12(4)(a) a search for recorded assessments of risk, EIAs or decisions related to the self-closing gates for the entrance to the playing field confirmed that the information sought was not held by the Council at the time the request was received. 

Advice and Assistance - regulation 9 of the EIR

The points made in your request for an internal review relate to statements made in correspondence pre-dating the original information request.  However, we have considered this earlier correspondence and can respond as follows.  

The self-closing gates in the children’s play area are installed in accordance with the guidelines in BS EN 1176 and under guidance provided by RoSPA Play Safety who provide best practice advice to local authorities on safety in indoor and outdoor play areas.    

The park itself is not covered by these guidelines and there is no requirement for self-closing gates or any gates at the entrances to the Boundary Road playing field. It is for this reason that the Council has provided self-closing gates for the children’s play area but not for the entrances to the park itself. The gates at the entrances are judged to provide good accessibility for all park users including wheelchair users and those using pushchairs.  

Managers of the facility considered the relative merits of keeping traditional gates at the entrances and providing signs requesting that the park users close the gates, but that consideration was not record in documents. Gates at the park entrances are provided at the discretion of the Council.  

For the avoidance of doubt, the safety of dogs accompanying park users remains with their owners.