Dunedin City Council seeks community input on destination playgrounds

Dunedin City Council is asking the community for input on how they would like Council to invest in destination playgrounds.

Destination playgrounds are large, themed playgrounds with high-quality, creative and sustainable equipment designed to be fun and physically and mentally challenging. As well as modern play equipment, destination playgrounds have facilities for comfort so families can stay all day. These can include parking, toilets (with baby change facilities), seating and other park furniture, refreshments, water fountains, CCTV, barbecues, lighting and shade. They attract high visitor numbers and help to encourage people of all ages to be active and to engage in play.

Dunedin City Council  Group Manager Scott MacLean advises “we’re committed to having fun, vibrant play spaces across the city. When we developed the Play Space Plan, we heard our community wanted better play experiences so we’ve been upgrading our neighbourhood playgrounds. Now we’re looking at investing in something bigger and better, like the modern destination playgrounds you might find in other cities in New Zealand.”

Dunedin has three existing large playgrounds – Marlow Park (the dinosaur park), Woodhaugh Gardens and Mosgiel Memorial Gardens. Some of their equipment is old and outdated and the DCC plans to upgrade them but is asking for feedback on where Council’s investment should be prioritised and at what level.

MacLean adds “people can provide feedback on the options of regular investment in our three existing large playgrounds (replacing playground equipment as required) or developing one or more into a modern destination playground. They can also give feedback on the option of building a new modern destination playground elsewhere in the city.

“Destination playgrounds are a big investment and are used by many people. Because they’re designed for the whole community to use, we want to make sure we choose the option or options that locals really want. Community feedback is important to help us come up with a plan that best serves the needs and wants of the people who are going to use them.”

“This is the first of three rounds of consultation; firstly, we want to know how people want us to prioritise our money for our large playgrounds. After this, we want people to help us design our destination playgrounds and, finally, we’ll ask what they think of the designs before we start construction.

The Council will consider feedback and decide on the next steps in January 2023.

Feedback can be provided at www.dunedin.govt.nz/destination-play by Monday, 31st October 2022.

Image: Dunedin's Marlow Park (the dinosaur park)