The new kids’ playground at Arkinstall Park is a hit, if the youngsters who test drove it at yesterday’s launch are anything to go by.
Putting the latest in playground equipment through its paces were Stig and his brother Finn Schneider from Banora Point Primary School, who dubbed it ‘very cool’.
The $200,000 playground and upgraded community open space at the park in Tweed Heads South is the first section of a progressive redevelopment of the park be officially opened to the public.
The bulk of the $7.75 million earmarked for the first stage of the upgrade is aimed at cementing Arkinstall Park’s place as a regional sporting facility.
But Tweed mayor Barry Longland said at the launch that the playground and adjacent public open space were important in their own right, ensuring the park is a valuable asset for even the shire’s youngest residents.
‘Public consultation for the upgrade highlighted demand for community facilities, not just sports facilities, and this open space is in response to this feedback,’ Cr Longland said.
‘Arkinstall Park is an important recreational open space for a large portion of the Tweed’s population and it will now be even more inviting for local families,’ he added
Tweed Shire Council’s acting director of community and natural resources, Stewart Brawley, said more people coming to the park throughout the day had an additional benefit for council: improving ‘passive surveillance’ of its facilities.
‘It helps discourage vandalism and other anti-social behaviour at times when sporting events are not being held,’ Mr Brawley said.
The next highlight in the development of the Arkinstall Park will be the official handover of the new $740,000 netball clubrooms to Tweed Netball Association representatives on Saturday 3 May.
Meanwhile, work continues on other sections of the stage 1 upgrade, including a regional high performance tennis facility and additional netball courts.
Once these works are completed, a much larger official opening of the entire stage 1 upgrade will be staged in the latter half of 2014.
The Australian Government has provided $5 million to the Stage 1 upgrade, while Council contributed $2.6 million to the project.
No problems with any of the articles in this edition, but why did you have to tag it as an “ANZAC- free zone”? Shame on you Echo, shame, shame.