PLANS to provide new and revitalised children’s play areas in Parade Gardens have been put forward by the Parish of St Helier.
The parish has submitted separate applications to refurbish the existing playground and create a new one near the café.
The former will cater for children aged seven and above, while the latter will be for those aged six and below.
Funding for the £750,000 project was agreed at a Parish Assembly last month.
Designer Emily Jennings, who was also behind the new playground in St Martin’s Village Green that opened last year, said a combination of “persuasion and inspiration” had helped get the plans to this stage.
“I’m passionate about improving play opportunities for all children in the Island,” she added.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft said: “It’s good that the funding was approved by the parish – the existing playground has been maintained but has not been updated for decades.”
In a cover letter accompanying the plans, the parish’s head of infrastructure, Silvio Alves, said that separate applications had been submitted because the refurbishment of the existing playground was viewed as “relatively straightforward” and “therefore not contentious”.
He continued: “We hope that we can secure consent for this playground as soon as possible. Whilst we appreciate that creating a new zero [to] six years old playground space may require a bit more time to consider and determine, we have been sympathetic in ensuring that the new play areas fit in well within the park, taking inspiration from and using the very successful new playground in St Martin as the precedent.”
He stressed that “careful consideration” had been given to the playground’s design, taking on board comments and concerns raised through a public engagement process.
“The results of our public engagement exercise have shown that there is good support for both the refurbished playground and the new playground, both of which will provide children with access to quality play equipment and have a profound impact on preventing longstanding physical and mental health conditions in children and young people.
“The new playground will also offer seating areas for adults, to help improve social cohesion and reduce loneliness. We hope that the two planning applications will be supported,” Mr Alves added.
