'Mobbed' St Albans playground to have numbers limited

A Roman-themed playground which attracted criticism after it opened during England's lockdown is to have visitor numbers limited.

The £250,000 attraction at Verulamium Park in St Albans opened last week, in line with government guidance, but was immediately "mobbed".

The council has admitted there was "overcrowding" and has introduced safety measures.

It said the area would be marshalled for two weekends before being reviewed.

The new facility stands on the site of Verulamium, which was the third largest city in Roman Britain.

It was designed to reflect the city's history and incudes a Roman-style theatre and basilica, as well as a Roman numeral hopscotch.

Outdoor playgrounds are allowed to open under current Covid-19 restrictions. Even though plans for a launch event were cancelled, a soft launch still proved popular and its first weekend was very busy.

One Facebook user said they were "horrified at the amount of people there" and another parent told the BBC she "did not really understand how it has been allowed to go ahead".

St Albans District Council said it would monitor the situation and revealed visitor numbers would be limited to 150 between 09:00 and 16:00 GMT, with a marshal counting people in and out.

Extra signage has been put up and hand sanitiser will be available at the entrance.

Councillor Anthony Rowlands, portfolio holder for leisure, said the council would "have to take a judgement on what we do as we approach the middle of December".

"In terms of whether we could have exercised more foresight and had more measures in place, I take that responsibility," he said.

"We didn't expect that the play area would be quite so popular.

"We endeavour to learn, we have another big play area that's due to open in the new year and this is a learning experience."

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