Lobbying council to have playground/fitness facilities installed

I had a thought while driving home today past a smallish local park set aside when a subdivision down the road was completed. Currently the land is pretty bare apart from a couple of gardens and some trees. I've never seen anyone using the park.

Since we will be contributing around 30 grand to the council in parks contributions when we do our subdivision, I was wondering about the possibility of lobbying council to get some more infrastructure installed in this park, as there are no other nearby parks. Has anyone done anything like this before? I reckon it would increase the attractiveness of the surrounding properties for young families and maybe increase the property values? What do people think?

I was also thinking that, in light of the aging population and the number of people you see walking for fitness of an afternoon, maybe some of the fitness training module equipment that you see popping up now may be more appropriate.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether to just talking to someone at the council about it (town planner?) or whether a more formal proposal needs to be lodged. I also thought of seeing if the local Rotary club would be interested in getting involved also.
 
Hi

Rotary may be good.

For playground equipment visit your local kinder and ask for committee. YOu can then make contact with parents and see if demand exists and they may support with letter, calls etc..

Ditto, aged centre etc..They will want seats and tables. And no kids.

You could also letter drop the local and invite them to give feedback via emails. Or invite to a BBQ at the park.

MUST have local buy - in as.....

Council Staff only respond to Councillors who respond to Residents asking for some thing.

Only note that 30k will only get one piece of playground equipment like a climber/slide/fort etc...with softfall.

PS if you have wife/girlfriend/ femal friend who can be part of this all the better. A (I assume) childless man approaching a Kinder to put in kids equipment could be viewed as a predator. I know a a dad myslef I would be wary.

Peter

PPS too late to spell check
 
Years ago when our kids were little we lobbied to have playground equipment put in a park a few doors away from us.

Over the years the equipment has been upgraded and now our grandkids are enjoying the swings and slides.

You have to get on to the local council, ring the local member,write letters etc. Don't take the first refusal and the final say. And if possible get neighbours to join in too.
Marg
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, I was also thinking of doing a door knock or letter drop, possibly also as a survey to find out how many kids there are living in the area to get a feel for what sort of equipment people would want.
 
Hi brendio

Have a word with the Recreation Planner at your local Council

They may already have a plan for the development of small reserves

The first thing they would do is a Feasibility Study, and they would do the canvassing of opinion, but they would also know the demographics of the area

If the area has few children under five, or mainly an older demographic, they may lean towards intalling eg park benches but not playground equipment. 'Fitness equipment' would be a big ask due to the insurance required for unsupervised use.

Most Councils have a very large number of small reserves, medium sized parks etc and these areas take up a large part of the annual budget to maintain

I was on the local Council for three years and all the Councillors frequently received letters, or found similar matters on the Agenda of the Riding Meetings for discussion

The process when spending public money is long, but where the due process was followed we often found that the first enquiry could lead on to something very valuable in the local neighbourhood

Equally, as the reserves are constantly monitored for maintenance, vandalism and usage, we also occasionally removed equipment from some small parks once usage dropped and the maintenance cost more than the perceived value to the neighbourhood.

So before you go round door knocking, speak with the Recreation Planner and see what may be possible and what is the best way to go about it

Hope this helps
Kristine
 
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