A WOODEN climbing frame in a new £40,000 village playground has been caged off for three months after a child got a splinter.

Steventon Parish Council fenced off the oak structure in the park off St Michael’s Way after Zak Roberts, nine, got a 1cm splinter in his leg in July.

The frame is the main feature of the new play park which was opened in September last year.

The parish council says Zak’s injury revealed a number of the wooden parts had split and become dangerous.

Sarah Rawling, 38, of St Michael’s Way, who has three children, said it was another example of “health and safety gone mad”.

She added: “For it to be shut down this long when it is a busy park is ridiculous.

“It’s a shame because there’s not much for the kids to do around here.”

Beverly Gibbard, 48, of School Close, said she wanted her children, Archie Newman, six, and Polly-Anne Newman, three, to be able to use the equipment again.

She said: “We know what the problem is so we should be able to take the risk. Kids climb trees and they jump ditches, you can’t guard them from everything.

“I just want to shame them into sorting it out because the park has been shut so long.

“Regardless of who is right or wrong they should have sorted it out by now. It’s not fair, and our kids are losing out.”

Nikki Crook, 39, of St Michael’s Way, who has three children, said: “It’s silly, and every parent is of the same opinion.”

Judy Spiller, headteacher at St Michael’s Primary School, said: “The children are missing it, but it’s very difficult because nobody wants to be liable.

“It’s a shame it could not have been sorted more quickly.”

Parish clerk Angela Einon said the wood had not been seasoned properly and the cracks meant children risked getting their fingers caught or splinters.

Richard Bosley, chairman of the parish council, said he had some sympathy for the mothers but added: “I’m sure if their child had a large splinter or lost a finger in the timber they might think differently. There is a real possibility of people losing fingers and I don’t think I want to be held responsible for that.”

Parish councillor Carole Denton said: “We did not want to close it but we had to because of health and safety.”

She said the council wanted the whole unit replaced but the suppliers were only offering to replace the upright parts.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents spokesman Jo Bullock said its annual inspection in August recommended the unit was closed off because of the structural defect caused by the splits.

She said: “It’s not about splinters, it is about the fact that there are splits from one side of the wood to the other which is a structural defect.”

Chris Dodd, the director of the suppliers Playground Services, said it was still negotiating with the manufacturer, Germany-based company ABC, to see what they could do.