Campaign to save village MUGA steps up a gear

A councillor who organised a community clean-up of a local play area has organised a public meeting to discuss next steps to improve the site.

Councillor Donna O’Brien organised the clean-up at Ruabon’s Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) after seeing a number of children playing on the site last week and walking over the broken glass in flip flops. 

Councillor Donna O'Brien

The Ruabon community councillor said: “The MUGA has officially been closed for a number of years but the site is not secure, there are several gaps in the fence and children access it regularly. I'd assume the community council would be liable for any injury sustained given the current condition of the site and lack of signage. 

“I appreciate there are management challenges but it's clear that there hasn't been any site maintenance for quite some time. 

“I also understand pressures on funding which is why I got volunteers together to help, although that is clearly not a sustainable solution longer term and we likely need to discuss risk assessments and ongoing maintenance at the next meeting.”

The site is owned by Ruabon Community Council and Cllr O’Brien said she was keen to work with others to bring the play space back into use for young people in the village. To that end, she’s launched a petition to revive the MUGA.

She added: “A lot of people have worked on this over many years and it’d be great to get them and new people together to make it happen. Local businesses, youth groups and sports organisations have also shown interest in making this happen.

“Through the petition, I have been overwhelmed with the number of messages I've received from local people, organisations and businesses offering to help. This area means a lot to people and that’s why the public meeting has been arranged to get as much community input as possible.”

The public meeting takes place at Ruabon Constitutional Club on September 11th at 7pm.