Sutton Weaver Playground Redevelopment

UPDATE - NEARLY THERE3 months ago

The contractors have almost finished the playground redevelopment. The new roundabout is in place, the new swing is in place. the pathways have been completed. The new safety surface has been added. The contractors worked through the wettest weather possible to bring this to life. The ground has suffered as a consequence, but it was the better option rather than waiting until spring. They ground just need to dry out before the Parish council make a decision on the re-opening date, and the re-seeding of the groundworks in the early spring THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE!

Project Start Date5 months ago

Sutton Weaver Parish Council are pleased to inform all our backers that the Playground Re-development project will commence on Monday 27th November. Weather permitting it should be completed in January 2024. This has taken a long time since the target funding was met in August 2022, with issues over the swing, thus having to re-do the plan, send all out to tender, but we are finally there! THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE THAT HAS MADE THIS POSSIBLE.

UPDATE : changes and delays1 year ago

Good evening, further to the previous email Sutton Weaver Parish Council are please to say that we have had only a very small minority not happy to continue with their pledges to the redevelopment of the playground. This represents less than 2% of the pledged money. The Parish council are keen to bring this scheme of works to fruition and are therefore placing a final date of Friday 21st April, for anyone not happy for their pledged amount to be used in the revised scheme, to ask for a refund, to enable us to move forward with the project. Whilst the Parish Council understands that some people feel we are not planning to deliver what we set out to do, we are pleased with the number of positive and understanding comments from our backers who understand that we can't, due to new Health & Safety guidelines deliver what we had originally hoped to. Please contact the Parish Clerk at parishclerk@suttonweaver.com for any further details. Thank you.

Inclusive Play Area Improvements Project Aims and delays1 year ago

Since setting up our Spacehive play area improvement project, we have encountered some delays in progressing the scheme. Most of the design elements are unaffected, however the aspiration to include a wheelchair ride on swing has given cause for concern. During the design process we have become aware that concerns exist nationally for this type of wheelchair ride on swing if installed into an unsupervised public play area such as ours. We are currently seeking a workable solution. The Parish Council’s current proposal is to develop an alternative scheme which continues to offer a much-improved play facility considering as many aspects of accessibility and inclusivity as possible in our playground. As originally planned, this will include the wheelchair ride-on roundabout, new self-binding gravel access paths to improve access into the space, servicing the new equipment and some of the existing play equipment, making access to the play area possible for wheelchair users (the existing ramped climbing frame in particular). The amended proposal offers an alternative type of inclusive swing, (not wheelchair ride on, but one which allows most users to share the swing and play together) allowing inclusive play for as many of the community as we are able to safely offer in our playground situation. A picture of the type of proposed alternative swing is included in this update. We consider the scheme to be a viable alternative that sticks to the spirit and objectives of the project. We hope that you will continue to provide your backing and support for this project but if you aren’t satisfied with the new aspects of the delivery and would like your pledged amount to be returned please contact parishclerk@suttonweaver.com

Inclusive Play Area Improvements Project Aims and delays1 year ago

Since setting up our Spacehive play area improvement project, we have encountered some delays in progressing the scheme. Most of the design elements are unaffected, however the aspiration to include a wheelchair ride on swing has given cause for concern. During the design process we have become aware that concerns exist nationally for this type of wheelchair ride on swing if installed into an unsupervised public play area such as ours. We are currently seeking a workable solution. The Parish Council’s current proposal is to develop an alternative scheme which continues to offer a much improved play facility considering as many aspects of accessibility and inclusivity as possible in our playground situation. As originally planned, this will include the wheelchair ride on roundabout, new self-binding gravel access paths to improve access into the space, servicing the new equipment and some of the existing play equipment, making access to the play area possible for wheelchair users (the existing ramped climbing frame in particular). The amended proposal offers an alternative type of inclusive swing, (not wheelchair ride on, but one which allows most users to share the swing and play together) allowing inclusive play for as many of the community as we are able to safely offer in our playground situation.

UPDATE1 year ago

Hello backers, I has taken a while, to say the least, but we are finally at tender stage for the project, and will hopefully have it under way in the next 2 months. We hit a problem, in that Cheshire West and Chester Council informed us of a RoSPA - (Royal Society of Prevention of Accidents) enquiry into the type of swing we wanted to place in the playground, and advised us to await the outcome. This enquiry has now been completed, it does mean, unfortunately, that we are not able to add the wheelchair swing to our playground redevelopment, RoSPA have recommended that this swing should only be placed in fully supervised playgrounds i.e. at a school. We have worked with the playground design team from CWaC and are adding other all inclusive equipment, including the wheel chair accessible roundabout.