Parents and children in a part of Coventry get their first glimpse at designs for a new play area today.
Over £50,000 is set to be spent adding things like a jungle swing, a standing see-saw and big boulders to Gosford Green.
It’s the final one of 9 play areas that are set to be refurbished this year by the council.
All of the projects have had to be scaled down though, after bosses lost a chunk of funding from the government in the final year of a national Playbuilder scheme.
Cabinet Member for Education, Lynette Kelly, says revamping facilities for children was always important for them, so cash has come from elsewhere:
“Children playing outdoors is important for their health, it’s important for their wellbeing. It’s also every child’s right to have a safe area to play where they can just be children and enjoy themselves and that has to be a priority.”
She also hopes the new equipment will help tackle the number of children overweight in the city, just weeks after we heard the West Midlands has more obese youngsters than anywhere else in the country:
“You know, we don’t want to force children to march up and down the street to take exercise, but if we can encourage them to play in a park and be running about and playing with their friends then they get exercise in a way that makes them happy: it’s a win win situation.”
The plans for Gosford Green are here and there’s also going to be an exhibition of the designs at the park for four days between Saturday 19th and Friday 25th.
£50,000 for a play area? The Luftwaffe created our 'play areas' for free!
