A popular little playground at Tweed Heads has been given a new lease of life thanks to a $70,000 upgrade by Tweed Shire Council.
The makeover at Ray Pascoe Park in Kennedy Drive includes an adventure play structure with slides, a climbing wall, track rider, double swing, carousel and an interactive play structure.
Local resident Jerry Hrenek said his daughters Mia, 5, and Ella, 2, tried out the new playground and was pleased that the equipment was suited to both younger and older children.
‘The playground is safe and in a beautiful spot, and because of the mulch the kids don’t hurt themselves if they fall over,’ Mr Hrenek said.
‘Mia loved the two slippery slides and Ella loved the interactive cafe, which is great for the younger kids; we don’t have anything bad to say about it.’
Council’s recreation services manager, Stewart Brawley, said council maintained 82 playgrounds throughout the shire and had the replacement program in place for when structures could no longer be safely repaired.
Mr Brawley said the budget for playground replacements was limited, making well-used structures a first priority.
‘Coastal parks are currently our most heavily-utilised playgrounds,’ he said.
‘Some of the recent ones installed at Kingscliff or Hastings Point can have over 40 kids on them at any one time, and this calls for other necessities like car parking, barbeques and more amenities.
‘It’s a problem we need to deal with, but it just shows how successful and well-used these new parks are.’
This year, council will consult with the community to develop a Shirewide Open Space Strategy which will aim to determine community expectations in order to develop better parks.
For more information on playgrounds in the Tweed Shire visit www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/ParksAndGardens and for more on the Commercial Recreation Activities on Public Open Space draft policy visit http://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/PublicSpaceCommercial
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