Princes Park play improvements - phase 1 consultation

We asked

We asked for your views on the proposed play facilities at Princes Park.

You said

We received 168 responses to the online questionnaire, we received 28 direct emails and we spoke to 47 people at the two events in the park.

The key themes from the public consultation were:

a fair number of respondents did not want the new older children’s play area to be on the area proposed, as it is highly valued, unshaded, well used and one of the limited open spaces in the park that can be used by all
a few respondents said there was no need to replace the current playground
request for more facilities for disabled children
request for surfacing under the current benches and picnic tables in the fenced playground, and more benches and picnic tables
views on the location of the football goals were varied, with a few comments that they should not be installed
for the older equipment respondents liked items that could spin and where multiple children could play at one time.

We did

Following the feedback received we have produced a revised proposal for the play facilities. We have relocated the older children’s play equipment, and we have changed all the older children’s play equipment to enable more children to be playing at the same time. We will be running a public consultation on these changes in November 2022.

We have swapped a basket swing for a mirage swing, which can be used by young children and those with additional needs. We plan to provide a special strap that can be used with the swing.

Within the revised proposal we will be surfacing under the current benches and picnic tables in the fenced playground. We do not currently have the money for more benches and picnic tables.

The revised proposal includes the provision of two football goals and the public consultation seeks further opinion on the goal posts.

We have added an additional spinner into the fenced playground and removed the spheres, which were not a popular item.