A new water play park in Werribee has been temporarily closed, just 17 days after opening, after complaints that children and adults had slipped and injured themselves.
Village Park, at Riverwalk Estate on the former site of the Werribee Treatment Plant, opened on October 7.
But it has been plagued with reports of people slipping on its surface.
Operator Places Victoria closed the park on October 20 to install an anti-slip coating in a bid to improve safety, and it was reopened two days later.
But the park was shut again last Friday after more reports of people slipping.
Places Victoria land development and housing general manager Joanne Wandel said the organisation had been monitoring the park since making improvements to the wet area surface earlier in the week, and it made the decision to close it temporarily while a different surface was investigated.
“The decision is regrettable as the park is already proving extremely popular with families, but the safety of our community comes first,” Ms Wandel said.
“Places Victoria takes the safety of its neighbourhoods very seriously. Safety experts were involved in designing the park and a safety audit was completed before the park opened.”
Wyndham mum Rebecca Townsend, whose son was injured at the play park last Wednesday, said she was disappointed an anti-slip surface hadn’t been used.
Ms Townsend’s two-year-old son, Isaac, slipped and bumped his head on the ground, splitting his lip.
“It was frightening,” she said. “It was extremely slippery. Myself and my husband almost slipped ourselves. We had just arrived and my son was so excited to see the water. It was disappointing.”
Ms Townsend said that while the park was a great attraction for Wyndham, she would not return unless rubber flooring was installed in the wet area.
