Good news for Haywards Bay families and children! We’ve recently completed works on an upgrade to the playground at Central Park Reserve with new equipment installed including a large slide and climbing net, trampoline, swings and spinner.
With this job now complete, we’ll be working over the next few months to replace another six playgrounds in suburbs around the Wollongong Local Government Area. It’s all part of Council’s goal to improve play opportunities for everyone in our community.
From now till the end of the financial year, we’re aiming to build new playgrounds at:
- Central Park Reserve, Haywards Bay – completed
- Wongawilli Community Hall – works to start March
- Rae Crescent, Balgownie – works to start April
- Rube Hargrave Park, Clifton – works to start April
- Bulli Beach Reserve – works to start April
- Cawley Park, Russell Vale – works to start June
- Guest Park Fairy Meadow – works to start June.*
* All playgrounds construction dates are estimates and are dependent on weather conditions.
Council will also be replacing the soft fall at Thirroul Beach Reserve, and the under the net climber at Hector Harvey Park, Koonawarra with works starting mid-year.
“Managing our existing playgrounds is important as we currently take care of 147 playgrounds all the way from Helensburgh to Yallah. It’s a big job to plan, replace and build new playgrounds as every playground location is unique,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into good playground design. When we plan an upgrade to a playground, we consider important factors such as the amount of land space available, environment conditions, what other playgrounds are nearby and available, as well as access to public transport and parking.
“We also like to shake things up – the playground we’ve recently opened at Cringila Hills focusses on accessible play for all and has a different feel and colour palate to our other playgrounds.”
Council also works closely with local stakeholders like school students when planning a major playground refurbishment, and seek advice, ideas and feedback from local students.
“With so many locations to take care of, we take a strategic approach to managing our playgrounds,” Cr Bradbery said.
“This approach is driven by Council’s Play Wollongong Strategy 2014-2024 and guides our vision for improving play opportunities for our community and sets out how we choose where and when to upgrade our playgrounds and how we might go about it.”
