Playground creates a stir

The comments on the children’s playground have been coming in thick and fast, as you can read by clicking here. (Comments are at the bottom of the story.)

We have also heard from Keith, our Parish Clerk, and it looks like we are all on the same side.  Just need to find the money now!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Dear David,

I thought that I would write to update you on the Play Park.On behalf of the Parish Council and our community, I have made a bid for funds through the Veolia Environmental Trust to resurface the whole of the sea front play park.  This bid goes through a rather lengthy process and we shall not know the outcome for another couple of months.  If we are successful, then we shall have the work undertaken sometime in the early summer.  If we are not successful, then I am afraid that it will be back to the drawing board!

If the funds were to come out of council tax monies through the precept, the £20k needed to undertake the work would represent about 20% of our parish annual budget.  With financial constraints as they are and have been for the past couple of years, the Council took the decision to try to secure the necessary funding via an alternative source.

When the Council took on the liabilities for maintaining the park, we had little idea how popular the park was going to be.  Had we anticipated its huge success, I am sure that we might well have left it in the hands of the District Council.  However, we are pleased that the park has proved so popular and will try to get it back into shape as quickly as funds permit.

For the past three seasons we have carried out annual remedial works, including building the surface back up and turfing it, putting children’s play sand in the deeper holes and also using rubber chips, all of which have lasted a few weeks at best!  This time we have decided that the only long-term resolution is to use what is called ‘wet-pour’, which is a rubber solution.  We have opted for the top surface to be finished in green rather than the often used black surface, which we believe would detract from the aesthetics of the surrounding grass area upon which the park is located.

We have approached local businesses about making a contribution towards the upkeep as obviously one or two benefit enormously by bringing custom to their facilities.  So far, we have had little success with sponsorship, but we remain optimistic.

Please feel free to use any of this communication to convey to your readers and if I can in future be of help in addressing concerns such as this, please feel free to ask, it’s why I am here!

Kind regards

Keith Metcalf

Parish Clerk