Play Areas
Play Area Developments
Ashford Borough Council manages approximately 40 play areas
across the borough. There are also another 30 or so owned and
managed by a range of organisations, mainly Parish Councils. We are
committed to working with local communities to ensure the play
areas meet the needs of local people. As such, we are constantly
looking for funding to refurbish the play areas in most need and
embrace partnerships with Parish Councils to improve the local play
offer.
All of the borough's play areas have been auditied and we will
shortly be evaluating the findings and looking to prioritise those
play areas most in need of refurbishment.
As part of our BIG Lottery Go4 Play Programme, three local
play areas have received significant investment in the past 3
years, Hothfield, Mersham and St Stephens Walk.
Bockhanger Play Area also received a refurbishment in the summer of
2010, together with the installation of new street games; 'Whats
the Time Mr Wolf,' 'This Way Up' and '40:40 Bunker'.
Mersham Play Area
Consultation for the new Mersham Play Area was completed by Kent
Children’s Fund Network in partnership with Mersham Parish Council,
Mersham School, Mersham Lambs, Mersham Brownies and local
families.
The play area has been designed along a theme of natural play
and was completed in April 2009.
Tell us what you think of the new play area by emailing
Sallyanne
Logan
Hothfield Play Area
Hothfield Parish Council, in partnership with Ashford Borough
Council has worked with Kent Children’s Fund Network & Kentish
Stour Countryside Project to install a new play area on Hothfield
Recreation Ground. The play area was officially opened in March
2010.
The Bluebells Children’s Centre supported the project, involving
local families in designing and choosing equipment to be installed
on the play area.
The play area features a bucket swing, tractor slide and
climbing cubes for older young people, amongst other exciting
features.
We are keen to receive your feedback. Email SallyAnne Logan.
St Stephen's Walk Play Area
Kent Children’s Fund Network worked with the local children to
understand what they would like to see from a new play area to be
built on the Green at St Stephens Walk.
The new play space was completed in March and hosts a zip wire,
large climbing unit and the boroughs first sand pit for
toddlers./ Over the coming months, football goals will be
installed and additional planting will further improve the
environment.
Tell us what you think. Email SallyAnne Logan.
Appledore Recreation Ground
The Recreation Ground Committee at Appledore have
been working with Ashford Borough Council to secure funding
from The BIG Lottery’s Community Spaces scheme to refurbish their
local play area. Kent Children's Fund Network delivered
communtiy consultation which resulted in the production of a design
for the new play space.
The play area was officially opened on 30th May, 2011.
Watch this space for photos of the boroughs latest edition to
play!
Do you like it? Email SallyAnne
Logan with your ideas and comments.
Wye Play Area
A new adventure play space has been opened in Wye, behind the
primary school. Funded through Playbuilder, the Parish
Council and other grants, the new space provides a dynamic and
challenging play to play. Try it out and email us your
thoughts.
Play Areas In The Ashford Borough
There are over 70 play areas in the Borough of
Ashford, with some being managed by the borough council and some by
other organisations, such as Parish Councils and Recreation Ground
Committees.
In order to support our Parishes, we have
developed resources to enable them to maintain and improve the
quality of their play offer to their community. The
Play Pack and ‘Ok to
Play’ Quality Assurance Scheme both support those
responsible for maintaining play areas. Those play areas that
have an ‘Ok to Play’ sign, are family friendly sites and are marked
accordingly. Scroll down for further information on ‘Ok to
Play’ and the Play Pack.
We have listed the play areas
below. We are re-developing this section of the
website to improve the navigation and accessibility of the pages,
making it easier for you to find your local play area. In the
meantime, we have simply listed the borough’s play areas:
View the Play Areas managed by Ashford
Borough Council.
View the Play Areas maintained by Parish
Councils or Other Community Organisations.
‘Ok to Play’ Play Space Quality Assurance
Mark
Action for Children and Ashford Borough
Council has been funded by SureStart Ashford to develop a symbol
for local play spaces which gives children, young people and their
parents the reassurance that a play space is safe to play in from a
design and location perspective.
This project is Ashford Borough Council’s
response to Play England’s publication ‘Design for Play – a guide
to creating successful play areas’. Ashford Borough Council is
embracing these guidelines to improve the quality of our local play
spaces.
Action for Children worked with local children
to develop the symbol which will now be placed in all play areas
either managed by the Borough Council or by Parish Councils which
have passed the quality assurance test for play spaces. Local
children have also redesigned the signage which is placed at play
areas which gives essential information so that it is more
understandable and relevant.
Thanks to funding from SureStart Ashford, Kent
Children’s Fund Network have been working with Parish Councils and
other community partners to extend the number of play areas with
accreditation.
See the list of play areas managed by the Borough
Council & Parish Play Areas for a full list of
accredited sites.
If you are interested in securing
accreditation for your play area please complete the form
and return it to Ashford Borough Council. If you achieve 70%
or over, we will visit your play area to confirm your score and
sign off your accreditation. If you fail to score 70%
and would welcome advice and support in raising the quality of your
play area, please contact Emma Powell, the Landscape
and Open Spaces Officer.
Tell us what you think of the quality
assurance scheme and Story Sack. Email
Sallyanne Logan at sallyanne.logan@ashford.gov.uk.
The Play Pack
An exciting
& innovative resource for Parish Councils, voluntary
organisations and play and childcare settings in supporting the
delivery of high quality play spaces and experiences for children
and young people in the borough.
Download a copy of the play pack to see the
factsheets and activity sheets on a range of subjects, from funding
sources, consultation questionnaires, planning, building and
maintaining play areas & contact information for further
specialist advice.
We want the Play Pack to be a growing
resource, so if you have any feedback on its content or have case
studies or activities you would be willing to share, please let us
know by emailing Sallyanne
Logan.
Funded by SureStart Ashford & Kent
Children’s Trust, this resource is a partnership project with
Canterbury City Council.
Download a copy of
The Working with Young People Pack, which is a complimentary
resource to the Play Pack.
This webpage was updated on
6/14/2011