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.
As part of our BIG Lottery Go4 Play Programme, two local play
areas have received significant investment in the past 3 years,
with Beaver Ward shortly to be installed.
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 – the borough’s newest 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 on Saturday
27th 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.
As the Borough’s newest play area, we are particularly keen to
receive your feedback. Email SallyAnne Logan.
Beaver Ward Play Area – St Stephens Walk
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 consultation is now complete and the results have been used
to prepare a design for the play area. The new design includes new
planting and environmental improvements, in addition to some new
and exciting play equipment.
We hope to start construction on site this summer. Watch this
space for the latest information.
Springwood Drive Play Area (Godinton Park)
Springwood Drive play area was refurbished in 2007 with new
equipment for children and young people aged 0-19. The open space
includes a youth shelter and a football goal.
We are delighted to be able to development the play area further
with the extension of the existing basketball area and provision of
junior swings. It is hoped to construct this over the summer of
2010.
Appledore Recreation Ground
The Recreation Ground Committee at Appledore are 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 has completed the consultation with
the local community and a design drawn up.
More news to follow shortly!
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.
Later this year we plan to re-develop 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 recent publication ‘Design for Play – a
guide to creating successful play areas’. Ashford Borough Council
is embracing these new 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.
Due to recent 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
7/7/2010