UPSET parents say potholes in a popular Cirencester park are an eyesore - and they believe they could cause injury to their children.

Several potholes appeared in the ground at the play park in Abbey Grounds around a month ago and swings have been tied up to prevent youngsters from playing near one of the potholes.

Visitors to the park have been left puzzled by the appearance of the potholes as Cirencester Town Council, which is responsible for it, has not put up any signs explaining why the park is in the state it is.

The town council believes that the potholes were caused by weathering and have been made worse by children picking bits out of them.

It has decided that the damage does not pose a health and safety risk and has allowed the park to remain open until repairs are carried out.

Shirley, took her two grandchildren to the park last week but left soon after she arrived because she was worried that they could trip on a pothole and hurt themselves.

She said: “It is just so sad, it is half term and somebody has decided to smash it up. We are not staying because it is not very safe because children could trip up. It is a shame because it is a nice place to play in.”

Anna Craughwell, who was visiting the park with her son, said something needed to be done about the potholes soon because there would be a lot of people using the park in the summer holidays.

“We pay council tax, we would like to see our money being spent.”

She added that there is going to be more children using the park as children will soon be on their summer holidays.

Liz Trowell, who was visiting the park with her granddaughter and great grandchild, said: “We live in Tetbury but we do not have a park like this in Tetbury and we come to find it like this.”

Martin Conyers, Estate Services Manager at Cirencester Town Council, said that following a risk assessment on the damage at the play park it was decided that the repairs did not need to be carried out  immediately.

“We decided not to close off the whole area. We do not regard it as high risk but we are making repairs.”

He explained that he thought the damage was originally caused by flooding and the potholes were made wider by children pulling out bits of the surface.

He added that he expected that the repairs would be carried out within the next week and in the coming months major improvements would be made to the play park such as replacing play equipment.