Recreation changes far from child’s play

CASEY Council is trying to solve the problem of the disappearing playgrounds.
At last week’s council meeting, councillor Wayne Smith asked that the playground removal program be stopped immediately for an urgent briefing of councillors.
Cr Smith said he was concerned about the number of residents who had contacted him over letters they had received from council that their local playground was to be removed.
“People just want a new playground to replace the one they (council) are taking away,” he said.
“But all they are getting is a letter telling them there is another playground 500 metres away.”
Cr Smith said residents were paying the price now for mistakes made by previous councils.
“The playgrounds were put in willy nilly and now they are out of date and unsafe,” he said.
City of Casey works and operations manager Alex Micheli said the playgrounds had to be removed as they were unsafe and a legal risk to council.
Mr Micheli said where they were removed altogether was because they were in areas where they were under-utilised and near another playground.
He said out of Casey’s 260 playgrounds, the council was required to remove 18 playgrounds in five years, with a further 10 installed each year with new developments.
“We’re actually installing more playgrounds than we are removing,” Mr Micheli said.
But Cr Smith said some of the playgrounds needed to be replaced as, for example, parents could not be expected to send their young children 500 metres away from an oval where their older kids were playing sport.
Councillors will now meet at a briefing to reassess the playground removal program and processes.