Plans by Wandsworth Council to start charging children to play in an adventure playground it owns have sparked outrage.

The council has decided to start a pilot scheme at the adventure playground in Battersea Park, charging children £2.50 to use it at weekends from October.

It said that the high cost of staffing and maintenance at the playground at a time of financial constraint means it has to look at generating money from the users.

But it is not currently planning to charge on weekdays during school holidays, or after school hours during term time.

A petition has already been started against the plan and the leader of the Labour group in Wandsworth, Councillor Tony Belton said: "I think it is outrageous that someone should charge children to play. Its obviously going to have an impact on people in the Latchmere and Queenstown wards and if you have two or three children, it begins to get quite expensive.

"The only people who think it is a good idea are the Tory councillors."

Ken Livingstone said: "Only the Conservative Party could consider charging kids to play. I believe London’s parks and playgrounds should be free for London's families and I am deeply concerned at this attempt by the Conservatives to turn publicly funded playgrounds into areas which only the rich and privileged can enjoy. "

A council spokesman said: ""The difficult economic situation we face means we have to consider every aspect of the work we do and the services we provide. This fully staffed adventure play centre is a very popular but also very expensive facility to run.

"The hi-tech equipment requires constant maintenance and replacement in order to keep it safe, and because of the playground's rough and tumble nature, it also needs lots of trained staff on duty to ensure that children remain safe. This is especially true at weekends when it is extremely busy and research has shown that half of those attending come from other parts of London.

"Introducing a pilot charging scheme at weekends will allow us to carry on investing in the playground, recoup some of those costs and allow us to continue providing the best value for money we can for our council tax payers. At around half the price of a child's cinema ticket we do not believe the fee is excessive."

A petition has been started to call for the council to abandon the proposals. To sign it visit www.tinyurl.com/pay-to-play-petition. Do your children use the adventure playground? Are you unhappy at having to pay for them to use it? If so, call the news desk on 020 87226344 or emailing jtrueman@london.newsquest.co.uk