Yarmouth Playgrounds Coming on in Leaps and Bounds
PR 173
9 May 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thousands of children across the Borough of Great Yarmouth are looking forward to their playgrounds being revamped before the summer holidays, and Great Yarmouth Borough council is on track to achieve this.
Following a major grant totalling £400,000 from the Big Lottery Fund, 10 projects which will create new playgrounds and refurbish others are currently underway, bringing the Councils work plan for children’s playgrounds forward by around five years.
Over the next few weeks Filby, Martham, Repps, Runham and Belton will see the installation of Multiplays - pieces of equipment which include various features such as a slide, climbing wall and sliding poles in one unit.
Southtown Common playground will also receive a multiplay along with a brand new skate park which is on schedule to open in June.
Playgrounds are being refurbished at The Lea and Beatty Close in North Yarmouth, and are to be opened by the end of May. Designs will be going out for public consultation at the end of May for both Gorleston Recreation Ground and Hawthorne Road, with the playgrounds to be built in July.
Magdalen Square is the beacon project in this fund with a ‘community playground’ being built where adults will be encouraged to actively play on the equipment with their children. The playground is to be opened at this years Mad Mag Day on July 15, whose theme is ‘Activities for All’.
The final playground being installed, thanks to the Big Lottery, is the junior playground at Marine Parade, Gorleston. This design was changed following public consultation, and Great Yarmouth Borough Council has been working closely with Gorleston In Gear to ensure the playground plays a pivotal role in this successful event.
Councillor Bob Peck, Play Champion for the Council said: “These playgrounds will help provide a focus for local communities and improve the quality of life for over 3000 children and go a long way to improving play provision across the whole Borough.
“This Council increasingly recognises the importance of play, and with the draft Play Strategy soon to be realised for public consultation, these are exciting times for play in Great Yarmouth.”
Notes to editors:
Big Lottery Fund is the joint co-operating name of the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Charities Board (which make grants under the name of the Community Fund). Big Lottery Fund, launched on 1 June 2004, is distributing half of all national Lottery good cause funding across the UK.
Big Lottery Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money. To date, the two merged Funds have committed more than £5 billion to initiatives with national, regional and local partners from the public, voluntary, charity and private sectors with a particular focus on disadvantage.
For further information:
Emma Dixon
Great Yarmouth Borough Council
Tel: 01493 846442
Email:
eld@great-yarmouth.gov.ukIssued by:
Liz Dann
Press Officer
Great Yarmouth Borough Council
01493 846513