COMMENT: Striking a balance between safety and fun is tough

And so it was when an officious council officer told families that they needed to remove a paddling pool and other assorted inflatables from a communal area.

Apparently several residents of Winchester House in Billy Lawn Avenue had set up the play equipment the day before around the side of the house, and the children had been playing on it without problem.

But within an hour of it being in the communal garden they were told the fun was over.

In the past The News has had the horrible duty of reporting on young children who have fallen into ponds or swimming pools and tragically died, even though they were only left unattended for a brief moment.

But no-one is suggesting that this was likely to be the case here '“ we are told by one of the fathers that there was a good number of adults for the children present.

This is a case, though, that raises the dreaded spectre of that old staple in the face of supposedly over-zealous officialdom, that it is '˜health and safety gone mad'.

However, one has to feel some sympathy for the officer here, we are sure no-one particularly enjoys being the '˜fun police'.

And it is a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario for them. What if the unimaginable happened, and one of the children was hurt or worse? This is, after all, a council-owned property and they have to take a careful and balanced approach to these situations.

The families simply say they wanted to cool down and have some fun in the process.

Given that we are still at the start of the school holidays, we hope that the council and the residents can come to some arrangement that will enable these youngsters to make the most of what we hope will be a glorious summer.