We have 69 play areas through the borough. Our green spaces team includes officers and inspectors who ensure our play areas are well maintained and inspected.
- Most of our play areas are accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs and provide for children up to 14 years.
- Most of our play areas are dog proof.
- Play areas are designed and built to conform to the latest British and European standards (BS EN 1176 and BS EN 1177) covering both surfaces and equipment.
- Play area use is not supervised by the Council. Children using play areas in the Borough should always be well supervised to use the play area in a safe way.
Keeping Our Play Areas Safe and Well Maintained
- Our play areas are regularly inspected by our specially trained operatives in the following way:
- Monthly inspections take place to check all equipment is safe and check any maintenance issues that are needed.
- Routine inspections are completed every three months.
- Annual inspections are completed for each play area by an external organisation.
- All play area inspection reports keep a record maintenance and improvement actions which are rated on priority. The most urgent issues might require a closure of a piece of equipment until the issue is fixed (i.e. equipment that requires repair), and the lowest level issues (i.e. painting railings) will be completed as soon as we are able, within our budget available.
Improving Our Play Areas
- Our programme of annual works for play areas will be published online on 26th August 2022 (for 22/23 financial year) and at the start of the new financial year in April 2023 (for 23/24).
- We have planned to spend over £700,000 on improving our playgrounds in the financial year 22/23. This includes complete refurbishments of play areas and maintenance, equipment repair, and visual improvements.
- Our team works hard to fix maintenance issues as soon as possible. Sometimes works can take longer because of the supply of play equipment. We will keep our programme of works updated to keep you aware of maintenance and improvement timelines for play areas.