Sunny smiles all round as Elizabeth Road play park opens

Hundreds of local children and parents came along to the official re-opening of Elizabeth Road Play Park in Seaton on Saturday 6 April.

Mayor of Seaton Councillor Peter Burrows, who was heralded in magnificently by David Craner, Seaton Town Crier, cut the ribbon and declared the enhanced play area open and ready for fun.

The new equipment in the play area contains £42,000 of improvements including a new Olympic basket swing, climbing walls and frames, spinning swings, a rota roka, and many more exciting features for children to enjoy.

In addition to the new equipment children were able to have a go on a bouncy castle, have their faces painted- all for free and provided by East Devon District Council and Seaton Town Council.

EDDC Community Development Workers Polly and Victoria also brought along their circus skills equipment for people to enjoy.

The opening was attended by EDDC`s Graham Godbeer and many Seaton Town Council Members. Dawn Squire and Gaynor Sedgwick of Seaton Town Council Youth and Rec Committee, who have spearheaded the project in Seaton, commented: “The event was a great success and it was lovely to see so many children and parents enjoying the new equipment”.

Councillor Peter Halse, Chairman of East Devon District Council, said: “Thank you to all the children who had their say and chose the play area. The opening was a great event and it was good to see so many people there! I’m looking forward to seeing the play area used a lot more now it has been vastly improved”.

The project is the result of a close working relationship between Seaton Town Council and East Devon District Council. Local people decided what the £42,000 worth of eagerly anticipated improvements to the play area should look like.

The two councils wrote a design brief for the play area following visits to Seaton Primary School and Seaton Community Festival, as well as many other local organisations, to find out what types of activities children wanted to do in the play area.

They found that climbing, spinning and swinging were the most popular activities. These findings were given to three play companies who sent their suggested designs back for people to vote on. They then held voting events where 584 residents of Seaton voted on which of the three designs should be put into the play area and 52% voted for the design that is being put in.

The funding for the revamp has come from developers who have built new homes in Seaton (Section 106 funding). Since 2008 EDDC has adopted the ground-breaking approach of distributing Section 106 money for sport and play through a Participatory Budgeting process using extensive community involvement.