CONSERVATIVE Party leader Iain Duncan Smith branded Basingstoke council as "barking mad" for the way it has handled its controversial play area replacement programme.

During his first visit to the town since taking up the leadership mantle from Willam Hague, Mr Duncan Smith blasted the Liberal Democrat/Labour-led council for removing borough play equipment at the start of last summer's school holidays and not planning to replace it until after this year's summer break.

As Mr Duncan Smith stood in a play area in Lapin Lane, Hatch Warren, playground campaigner Tracey Dobell told him: "They removed the swings from this playground and replaced them with baby swings - so older children cannot use them. They left us the see-saw but there is a 'no ball games' sign on the grassed area so children can't play there either.

"Two other play areas in adjoining roads have had all their equipment taken away - even though they had soft playing surfaces."

Stephen Mcintyre-Stewart, Conservative candidate for Buckskin, told his party leader: "Workmen actually kicked children off the equipment in one play area in Buckskin and then cut it out with an angle grinder as the poor kids watched. It was a well-used play area. Now they have got nothing to play on."

Mr Duncan Smith said: "This is bureaucracy gone mad. They are barking mad. Don't they like children or something? When I was a boy I used to kick balls around in places like this. They could put up something to stop the balls going into surrounding houses and make it useful for children.

"Why can't they improve facilities instead of taking them away? Here they have only got swings that some children can use and a see-saw and taken all the equipment from other areas. Instead of dealing with what was a marginal problem in terms of health and safety they tore equipment up and left just some bits and, in some cases, nothing. You can't call that a caring council."

He added: "I think it is vitally important that Basingstoke gets a Conservative council. When they take control they will respond to local needs."

In a plea to local electors, Mr Duncan Smith said: "Ask your local Conserv-tive candidates what they will do about the play areas when they run the council."

Basingstoke MP Andrew Hunter, who was accompanying Mr Duncan Smith on his visit, agreed with the leader's comments on the playground issue and put the taking out of play areas down to "incompetence".

The Conservative leader also travelled to Roman Road, Winklebury to look at Manydown - the open greenfield site jointly owned by the borough council and Hampshire County Council that could become the location of a 3,000-home estate.

Cllr Phil Heath told Mr Duncan Smith: "The borough council say they are taking Manydown out of the local plan as a development site but they may need it in the future. We believe they are going to put it back in four years time."

Mr Duncan Smith said: "It is all a game. They take it out of the local plan so they don't get the blame for it - and then they sneak it back in again in the future.

"It is all wrong. They dump a bunch of houses where people don't want them.

"It is all part of this ridiculous Government trying to centrally control everything. They have huge housing targets that have no bearing on the needs of the local area. If the development goes ahead schools and transport become overloaded.

"We should move decision-making like this to a local level. We should allow people to make a lot more decisions with their local council and not have Governments making decisions."

North West Hampshire MP Sir George Young - in whose constituency Manydown lies - pointed out the site to him and said: "I am totally against this development. As local MP, I have campaigned against the Hampshire housing targets - the number of houses that Hampshire have been told to find and which is way over what local authorities believe is necessary.

"But if I just save this site and it goes somewhere else, I have not solved anything. I am campaigning against the overall target for Hampshire."