By BRIDGET COOK
THE City of Casey will investigate taking a number of precautionary steps to ensure children are safe when enjoying local playgrounds.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, councillors resolved to investigate the costs associated with providing safety fencing and sail shading at about 30 playgrounds across Casey.
The council will also ensure that in the future entrances to public toilets will face playgrounds to ensure parents have sight of their children as much as possible.
Casey Mayor Geoff Ablett, who raised the motion, said the investigation stemmed from the problems faced over the location of the toilet in Heritage Park in Selandra Rise, which the council was now going to move.
He said while consulting the community about the issue, a number of parents raised their concerns about the lack of fencing around the playground as well.
“Being a parent and a teacher I know what little children can do and that is chase a ball or run across a road without looking both ways for traffic,” he said.
“I thought we needed a child proof fence that would enable children to play on equipment, and also have a large open space area to run, play and kick a ball.
“All this area should be fenced for their protection and peace of mind for parents.
“I then went and looked at a number of our playgrounds and saw that a lot had no protective large area safety fencing, and that they were near roads and toilet blocks were not present or a long distance from the play area or near a road.
“I then believed we needed to review our safety policy and facilities to better protect our families in our parks that get used often.
“Let’s not wait for an abduction from a toilet near a road and let’s have a large safe area for kids to play.”
Cr Ablett said he saw this investigation as the beginning of a great step towards rolling out safer playgrounds into the future.
“We can gradually fix the ones we have and any new ones are built along these guidelines,” he said.
Councillor Mick Morland supported the motion but was sceptical on whether the council would be able to afford it.
He estimated it would cost between $3-4 million, something a council officer was unable to confirm without further investigation.
