Out of 152 playing fields around Malta and Gozo, 102 had already been inspected and all would be examined by the end of the year, said the Parliamentary Secretariat for Local Councils.

Playing fields in Marsaxlokk, Marsascala, Paola, Żebbuġ, Marsalforn, St Paul’s Bay, Mtarfa and Ħamrun were found to be in a bad state and will be closed, as recommended by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.

The MCCAA would be issuing a report on every playing field inspected and sending it to the Department of Local Councils and to the respective local councils, the secretariat said.

The regulator would be recommending changes and requesting action on the part of the local councils in the case of playing fields found to be in a good state but not totally in conformity with the standards set.

Inspections will continue once a year and an annual report issued and local councils would also be obliged to frequently inspect the playing fields themselves.

Since the local councils were set up, the government has passed on a sum of money annually for the maintenance of playing fields. This year, it also issued a scheme for the same aim, which closes by mid-October.

From inspections carried out so far, it would appear that the most common shortcomings consisted of lack of signs with emergency numbers and warning about traffic in the vicinity, lack of absorbent material to cushion falls and old equipment that could be dangerous, the secretariat said.

It was reacting to a statement by the Labour spokesman for the family, Justyne Caruana, who said playing fields were in a dilapidated and dangerous state and urgently needed to be well equipped to avoid accidents.

Dr Caruana called on the authorities to be proactive in addressing such perils to the benefit of children, who had every right to have fun in danger-free environments.

The government said Labour was only interested in unnecessarily alarming the public when it was unaware of the works that had been carried out.

“Never more than in the previous years has so much investment in public recreational spaces been made,” the government said, listing a number of high quality playing fields, including the Ta’ Qali Adventure Park.

Last year, it said, the Malta Standards Authority had established standards for the country’s playing fields following consultation with stakeholders, including the local councils, under whose responsibility they fell.

An agreement was signed with the Department of Local Councils to carry out inspections and inspectors received training from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the UK, the secretariat said.