Playground in Isle of Anglesey is the pride of the community
Posted on Tue 27 September 2011
Case Study: Parc Y Plant Newborough, awarded £48,762.50
Parc y Plant comes under the umbrella of a community-owned, not-for-profit company which administers local initiatives and has a reputation for ‘getting things done’ in the Wales community of Isle of Anglesey. It is a voluntary organisation, founded in 2003, and it has a 25 year peppercorn lease on the land that is the only play area in the ward.
Parc y Plant was founded to maintain and operate the playground in Newborough, and involves people of all ages in its work, which is seen as being a cornerstone of local community pride, as well as providing diversionary facilities to minimise anti-social behaviour. The ward is classified as deprived, with local police, shop-keepers and villagers concerned about anti-social behaviour. With good community-buy in, the group cleared the decrepit site, and repaired and refurbished small existing equipment. With a Fair Share Trust grant they enhanced the children’s play area using the expertise of play and playground specialists to install age-appropriate, exciting and safe equipment on the existing site. The vision was to have play facilities for children of all age groups, incorporating climbing, balancing, swinging and sliding. Consultation, accessibility and maintenance were all factored into the design.
On visiting the play area in the early summer to meet the volunteer project manager and review progress, the Local Agent was met by a delegation including a local councillor, committee members, parents and children. Groundworks were well underway, and the parents and children explained that they’d come specially to meet the Agent and Fair Share Trust manager to say thank you for the funding to develop a play area that would be used by the whole community. “Thank you for giving me a playground”, said one toddler. This display from the delegation demonstrated the appreciation the local community felt for the playground.
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