The government has said that “overall the playing fields in Gozo are in a better state than Malta. The reason for this is that most of the playing fields were built, embellished or arranged recently. Besides that, acts of vandalism in Gozo are less than those in Malta.”

This stems from investigations carried out by inspectors of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs (MCCAA) as part of the verification exercise on the playing fields in all the islands. These playing fields are checked in accordance with standards issued in 2010 after a process of long consultation with various bodies including the Local Councils, the government said.

“In Gozo there are 23 playing fields that fall under the responsibility of Local Councils. Fourteen of these have already been checked. Only one playing field, located in Marsalforn, was found non-compliant with the standards and was therefore recommended that some of the gaming equipment is no longer accessible to children until corrected.”

In contrast, from 127 playing field found in Malta, until mid-August 57 were inspected. It was found that seven of them were not compliant with the required standards.

The details were given by Dr. Chris Said, the Parliamentary Secretary for Fair Competition, Consumer Affairs, Local Councils and Public Dialogue during a visit to the Xaghra playing field. Dr. Said was accompanied by Xaghra Mayor, Mr. Joseph Cordina.

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said, went on by saying that the Central Government issued a scheme to financially assist Local Councils to improve facilities for playing fields that fall directly under the responsibility of their own. The scheme was issued by the Department of Local Government (DLG) and it is intended to ensure that those playing fields that are not under the standard MCCAA, can be corrected without delay. The scheme closes in mid-October.

“The inspections conducted so far show that the most common shortcomings in Maltese playgrounds are the lack of signs indicating the event of emergency phone numbers, lack of material to absorb the drop of children from on the gaming device; old appliances can be dangerous, dams not high enough, unadjusted good swings, and lack of traffic signals in the vicinity of playgrounds,” Dr Said commented.

The Parliamentary Secretary went on to say that these are all requirements in the standard set by the MCCAA (ex-MSA) in 2010. “The inspections are carried out under that standard, to be completed by the end of this year. The MCCAA inspectors were trained by British officers ROSPA organization that provides training in this field. The responsible official of the playgrounds, assigned by Local Councils, also received the necessary training in this regard.”

Parliamentary Secretary, Chris Said, concluded “the scheme for the improvement of playgrounds is intended to financially support those local councils to upgrade their playgrounds particularly when they are old and therefore were not designed accordingly standard.” He appealed to anyone frequenting these places to help keep the facilities in a good state to be enjoyed by the public.

The Xaghra Mayor said that “the Local Council of this legislature has made great investments in this playing field, with the installation of more playground equipment for children. Major works were also carried out at the football ground annexed to this playing field which the Council managed to transform from an abandoned field to a ground with artificial turf which is more suitable to children and youths who practice football.”

Mayor Cordina said that the Council had “succeeded in obtaining funds under various schemes issued by the Central Government to make up for the small funding allocated to Local Councils and to will contiue to carry out projects for the benefit of Xaghra residents.” He said “that the Council is committed to following the recommendations made by the Inspectors about the present state of our playing field and apply for funds to continue embellishing the playground.

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