Overview
- We are refurbishing the children’s playground at Oliver’s Park in Colehill, focusing on the needs of younger children (age 1 to 8).
- We issued an invitation for companies to tender, asking them to submit proposals for the best play area they can provide at two alternative budget points of £50,000 and £70,000.
- We received 11 alternative options, and obtained feedback on these from our residents as well as local ‘in school’ consultations with children up to aged 9 to help us reach a decision.
Key Requirements
The main requirements we specified were:
- We would like to replace the infant wooden multi-play unit, which has deteriorated significantly, with a mix of equipment covering the full 1 to 8 age range.
- We would like new swings to replace the existing set which are deteriorating, ideally with a toddler seat, two junior seats and a basket swing.
- The junior multi-play unit, small boulders, see-saw and speaker tubes should be retained.
- All equipment and installation must be fully compliant to the playground standards BS EN 1176.
- Old equipment should be removed and safely disposed of, recycling where practical.
- We would prefer timber or other naturalistic materials that fit with the surroundings.
- The equipment should be robust, long-lasting and as vandal-proof as possible.
- A reasonable proportion of the equipment should be accessible by disabled children.
Public Consultation
- The public consultation via this website closed on 19th November 2023.
- We will also be seeking feedback directly from children via local schools and nurseries.
Options
You can see the 11 options by clicking on the images below. This view lets you click through each of the images in turn..
If you’d like to look at any of the options in more detail, you can click on the individual images shown below. and zoom in..
Use the back button on your browser to return to this page after viewing each image.
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Option A
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Option B
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Option C
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Option D
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Option E
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Option F
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Option G
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Option H
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Option I
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Option J
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Option K
Outcome
- The public consultation via this website closed on 19th November 2023.
- We received a total of 36 responses containing both ‘votes’ for the artworks produced as well as other comments including a clear message that users did not want the overall swing capacity reduced and that the green slide on the larger piece of play equipment is not as user friendly as it could be.
- The ‘face to face’ consultations carried out by school staff with children attending local schools and nurseries voted designs E & D as their two favourites.
- As a result, following examination of the tenders, design and public opinion, Councillors at their meeting on 5th December resolved to have design D installed at the beginning of 2024 and having taken onboard feedback from respondents, have also decided to have the green slide replaced with a design that is straight, less steep and hopefully less static as it’s being formulated from a new ‘anti-static’ product. The replacement work for this equipment has an anticipated start date of 12th February.