Mini Craig chute is back at last after near two month shutdown

The tower slide at the Mini Craig closed for repairs in October and in a case of bad timing, this occurred just before the week-long school holiday during that same month – meaning the chute was out of bounds to the hordes of youngsters who have been converging on the popular site for months.

The major attraction at the park had been forced to close for safety reasons on an earlier occasion since the £3.7 million Craig and Mini Craig opened in July.

The intervention of local councillor Nathan Wilson in early October saw negotiations start in regard to repairs but these were not entirely straightforward in turn.

The elected member for Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig was informed that the council’s contractor was awaiting the arrival of two replacement panels and a re-opening would take place once these had been put in place and a further inspection confirmed the play feature could be made available again.

At the end of October, the council then advised that the appropriate repairs were complete and the chute would be brought back into use once the council had received paperwork following an independent inspection.

The Scottish Conservative Councillor then received an e-mail last Thursday to confirm that the tower slide would re-open the following day.

A delighted Councillor Wilson said: “The new park at Ravenscraig is a wonderful amenity and it’s opening rightly received huge amounts of attention during the summer months.

“It was very much a concern to hear that the tower slide had to be closed on two separate occasions so soon after opening and I very much shared the disappointment of parents that it was unavailable for children during the October school holiday and then remained closed for the best part of two months.

““I was delighted to receive a recent e-mail from the local authority confirming that the tower slide would be brought back into use by the end of November. It is certainly welcome news that the chute is now re-open.”