Woodbury children choose exciting new play equipment

Fantastic improvements to a playpark in Woodbury have taken a step closer to completion as local children have chosen their favourite design.

Woodbury Parish Council and East Devon District Council have been working closely together and with local children to make £25,000 worth of eagerly anticipated improvements to the Woodbury Village Green play area. This is a play area for children aged 8 and under.

£17,500 has been contributed by developers through Section 106 funding for play and £7,500 given to the project by Woodbury Parish Council. The Section 106 money was a condition of planning approval for a number of developments in the area.

Young people power

Children had a choice of three designs and voted for their favourite, with the winning option including a basket swing, climbing frame and a spinning item. The three designs which children chose from were provided by companies in line with the councils’ design brief for the area. EDDC and Woodbury Parish Council came up with this after visiting Woodbury Primary School earlier in the year to find out what type of activities children wanted to be able to do in the play area.

In May all 177 children at Woodbury Church of England Primary School and Woodbury Pre-School got to vote, the winning design by HAGS SMP got 55% of the votes.

The result has been ratified by Woodbury Parish Council and will now be rubber-stamped by East Devon District Council so that work can go ahead ordering and installing the playground.

Exciting times

Cllr Cheryl McGauley, Woodbury Parish Councillor who has led on the project said: “It’s really exciting that the children of Woodbury are getting the new play area they really want. It’s been so rewarding to see this whole process from beginning to end from finding the money and asking the children what they want to now actually seeing it happen! Woodbury is a rural village so doesn’t have a lot for its children to do, I hope they all come and enjoy the new play area, once it’s put in we’ll organise an opening event and invite the village.”

Cllr Iain Chubb, EDDC portfolio holder for Environment added: “I’ll be watching the work happen at the play park with great interest. It will be a great improvement on what was there before! Thanks to all the children who had their say and designed and chose the play area. EDDC have had a policy of working with the community to spend developers’ money on play and sport for the last five years. It is still a groundbreaking scheme nationally.”

With a final design now finding favour, it’s hoped that the work will get underway in the next few months.