The Civic Centre Play Space engagement concluded 16 September 2013. The vast majority of the feedback was in support of the play space, which caters for children up to five years of age. While all the design elements were popular, the top three were:

• Sliding
• Balancing
• Climbing

The play space was built in June 2014 in line with the community responses.
The Civic Centre Play Space is surrounded by fencing to separate it from the walkway. It also has rubber surfacing, with a variety of colours and patterns to define the area. It has stepping stones, a small slide, puzzle board, toddler seats and interactive ‘flowers’.
The play space offers a variety of activities for children to enjoy and also has seating available for parents or caregivers.

Thank you for your feedback in last year’s community consultation regarding a new play space at the Civic Centre. The results of the survey have been collated with a concept design developed in response to the community feedback.

Out of the 90 valid responses that were collected, 87% were supportive of the proposal, with 8% against and 4% impartial.

Those who were against the proposal were primarily concerned with the impact the play space would have on parking and also the impact to the disabled and older patrons who wait in the undercover area for transport. The play space is intended to be located within the currently fenced area and as there is limited space, it is not expected to attract further visitors to the civic centre but to be used by those already using the centre’s facilities. The undercover walkway will remain and additional seating added.

While all design elements were popular (i.e. 51% or higher), the top 3 were:

• Sliding 77%;
• Balancing 70%; and
• Climbing 67%.

60% of the 90 respondents made further comments, with trends including requests for:

• Imaginative or interactive play elements (8 responses)
• Sand play (7 responses)
• Swings (7 responses)
• Shade (6 responses)
• Seating for parents (5 responses)
• Soft fall (5 responses)

The concept design concept design proposes installing fencing to separate the play space to the walkway. Rubber surfacing with a variety of colours and patterns will define the play space, creating pathways, stepping stones and games. A small slide and play structure, distortion mirror, toddler seats/steps and interactive ‘flowers’ aim to offer a variety of activities in the allowable space. The current seat will become part of the play space and a new seat will be installed against the wall of the community centre to ensure seating is available for different users of the space.

Works are due to begin in in June 2014, with a target completion date of 30 June 2014.  The area will be closed during construction.