Coate Water play park in Swindon to open ‘by Spring 2023’
Swindon Borough Council has given £500,000 contract to play park specialist ESP Play Parks to build the new facility near the park’s accessible parking spaces.
And the park itself will be fully accessible for users with disabilities; flat paths into it from the parking area will be constructed and equipment will include an inclusive wheelchair roundabout, an inclusive multi-play seesaw and a larger multi-play unit as well as swings including one which is wheelchair accessible.
Matty Courtliff, the council’s cabinet member for culture, heritage and leisure, said delivering a new play park had been one of his “top priorities” and it was “fantastic” that work would start soon, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.
“We have been working closely with ESP who are experts in accessible play parks and I am delighted we have been able to incorporate a wheelchair accessible swing as that was something local group Mums on a Mission were keen to see included in the new park,” he added.
Funding for the new play park has been secured from Section 106 developer contributions with construction set to take around 12 weeks.
It is the latest in a series of improvements Swindon Borough Council is making to the Borough’s country parks. More than a thousand members of the public contributed to Swindon’s proposed Country Parks Improvement Plan, which aims to identify and then deliver improvements to the Borough’s parks so they continue to be enjoyed by visitors for years to come.
Last summer, the iconic Coate Water diving board was refurbished and cleaned, while the children’s play area at Lydiard Park has undergone improvements.
