Highland Play Parks on agenda at Committee today

A report presented to the Communities and Place Committee today provided an assessment of the life expectancy equipment in council play parks across the Highlands and highlighted the need for investment.   

The Council’s Play Park Strategy was approved by Communities and Place Committee in November 2023 and the report discussed today gave an update on progress. The Play Strategy Coordinator is currently working with about 40 community groups and within the last year has supported communities to raise £587k in capital funding for the Council. 

Highland Council currently maintains 312 play parks and 2039 pieces of play equipment. 

Progress continues to be made with spending the Scottish Government funding to renew play parks. Decision making on play parks is delegated to Members, and officers and Members continue to work closely to prioritise the spend to ensure it will deliver best play value. 

Following discussions the committee agreed the principle that 10% of funds raised by communities is ring fenced for future maintenance 

Chair of the Committee, Councillor Graham MacKenzie said: “Despite what some headlines in our local press have said, this report we discussed today is not about closing play parks. Like everything mechanical or structural, play equipment has a finite life, and at the end of its life it becomes unsafe for children to play on, and must be removed.  

“The report highlights the need for investment in our play parks, both to extend the life of the equipment to its maximum, through preventive and routine maintenance, and the need to replace items when they can no longer be repaired and must be removed.  

“This doesn’t mean that play parks are going to close, but it does mean that without investment, be it from fund raising or from Council funds, eventually the play equipment would reach the end of its life and must be removed. If this happens, children could still use the park for games and other activities, however, they wouldn’t have any formal play equipment. 

“Removing equipment or putting equipment out of use when is unsafe is an obligation that Highland Council take very seriously. We do everything possible to prevent this happening.  

He stressed: “There is no desire to close any of our play parks, and this committee report highlights the need for investment to keep our play parks open and safe for our children now and into the future.”   

The Council will continue to support communities to seek external sources of funding, and support communities to fundraise to improve play parks. 

At the Badenoch and Strathspey Committee held earlier this week, members allocated £108k of funding for play parks in Ward 20.  

Plans to redevelop Whin Park in Inverness are progressing well. The project is on target to deliver by Easter 2025.Whin Park will be used to trial various types of play, which if successful could be rolled out across the play park estate. Some of the equipment which was removed from Whin Park will be repurposed for other play areas across the Highlands.