Almost £300k council funds to upgrade Caithness play parks
Nearly £300,000 will be set aside to fund improvements at five Caithness play parks.
Highland Council’s Caithness committee approved the funding, which includes a total allocation from the Scottish Government play parks renewal programme, of £294,179 to be split equally between the Wick and Thurso wards.
Councillors agreed at a meeting on Monday that £146,824 of this funding will be used in Ward 2 for the following projects:
• Gillock Park Thurso (full refurbishment) £117,624
• Harland Road Castletown (new equipment of a sky carousel and a spring mobile) £4200
• Dunnet (a new climbing frame) £19,000
• Scrabster (a sky carousel and a slide) £6000
For Ward 3, £145,338 of the funding will be used to fully refurbish Grizzly Park in Wick.
Councillor Ron Gunn, who chairs the committee, said: “Across the whole of Caithness there are 49 play areas and 335 pieces of play equipment so we have to prioritise projects that fit in with the specific criteria of the Scottish Government’s play park renewal fund.
“I’m pleased five more play parks are to benefit from investment. Play park refurbishments are often facilitated through community fundraising, and community groups, who can take leases, or take community asset transfers of play parks to enable improvements from external funders.
“This has been successfully achieved for many play parks throughout Caithness and we will continue to support communities to seek external sources of funding for more improvements.”
Additional to the decision made on Monday, members have allocated funds to improve and refurbish play parks throughout Caithness including Bignold, Hillhead and King George V in Wick and Castle Terrace and Beach Road in Thurso.
Highland Council explained that the provision of play parks in not a statutory duty but the inspection and maintenance of equipment once installed, is a mandatory requirement. For this reason, play parks are subjected to daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly inspection based on usage and risk, and an annual inspection carried out by an independent, qualified playground inspector.
Following approval by the committee, orders will be placed for the equipment and works and members will be updated with timescales on delivery and installation.
Last month, a protest took place in Thurso after concerned parents feared there would be a mass closure of Caithness play parks. The information came from a Highland Council document which stated that 26 play areas in the county were under threat of closure within five years unless funding was not found.
Wick and East Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner addressed the concerns and clarified information in the document to help ease local tensions.
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