A LONG-RUNNING row over a Cardigan estate play area has taken another twist after the housing association responsible for the facility locked out residents.

Tai Ceredigion took over housing stock and the children’s play area at Maesglas from Ceredigion County Council in 2009 and since then there have been numerous run-ins between the new authority and residents.

The association has seen a planning application for dwellings on the site refused by Ceredigion planners and the Welsh Assembly Government and in 2013 tore out the play equipment on what it asserted were health and safety grounds, stating the equipment would not be returned until planning permission was granted.

However, Maesglas residents – 75 per cent of homes at the estate are privately-owned – have a statutory right to use the green area.

An application by residents for the play area to be given village green status was turned down last year.

Now the housing association has riled residents further by padlocking the three gates to the play area.

A Tai Ceredigion spokesperson said the gates had been padlocked previously but had been damaged and the most recent action has been taken in the interest of safety.

“I must stress that it is in relation to safety and for no other reason,” said the spokesperson.

But residents say the gates have never been padlocked and want to know why it has taken the association three years after removing the play equipment before installing padlocks.

Maesglas resident Teresa Harries, a member of the North Cardigan Action and Support Group, said the community had used the open space for nearly 60 years.

“We as a community are very passionate about out play area and green space which has been deemed by Aberaeron-based open access play service Ray Ceredigion as the safest in the county,” said Teresa

And another Maesglas resident Mary Evans said “We continually hear from parents and children asking when the play equipment is to be reinstated.

“We as a group are the voice of the children and they are the innocent ones in all of this. The hub of our close knit community needs to be preserved for generations to come.”

Expressing disappointment over the latest development, County Councillor John Adams-Lewis told the Tivy-Side: “Instead of padlocking, Tai Ceredigion should have replaced the play equipment it removed."