A new £500,000 playground in Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, will open on June 1, Lambeth council have announced.
The opening of the play area, replacing an older one near Arlingford Gate, was due to open at the beginning of May but was delayed the even to allow the grass to grow.
Despite council pleas for parents to keep their children off the area until the official launch, Herne Hill resident Rob Blackie said the apparatus was already being used by families.
Sally Prentice, Lambeth council cabinet member for culture, leisure and the Olympics, said: “This new playground will be another great new facility for families and children to use in the borough. It is part of a wider project to dramatically improve facilities at what is already a fantastic park. We are looking forward to the playground opening for business this summer.”
It is part of a number improvements at Brockwell Park funded by a £3.5million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as £1million from Lambeth council. Railings are being replaced, paths relaid and toilets repaired. The ponds are also being improved with new bridges and pagodas added, and a tree planting scheme is under way.
Better than I expected however both Dyson dryers broken already and no soap. Numerous soaked areas and large puddles, with the layout it is difficult to watch more than one child , higher fences and just one entry/exit point would have been better.
My understanding it that this playground has cost £500,000 – surely that money is needed more elsewhere. It seems to be a vanity project as the old playground was still serviceable. The design of the new playground means there are many areas where children will be out of sight and I wonder whether the designers had thought the practicalities through properly.
Interesting Cllr Prentice mentions that this will be “another great new facility”, without mentioning that the hours in most council run adventure playgrounds were decimated last year after the council fired all the staff. I quite agree Lambeth needs “great new facilities” for adventure playgrounds, I don’t think Lambeth council are providing it
There were loads of people (adults and children) using it already last Saturday, despite there being fences around most of it
Could hardly blame them with it being the first sunny day in weeks