Play equipment will not be installed in a Wollert reserve despite a petition from 16 nearby residents requesting swings, slides and rides for children.
Whittlesea councillors voted in line with council officers’s recommendations last Tuesday not to install play equipment in the Monaco Circuit reserve because it is within walking distance of two other parks with playgrounds.
Jasveer Kaur Sran lodged the petition with the council in February. Council officers have since prepared a report that found more play equipment in the 0.1617 hectares reserve would be an oversupply in the area.
The report stated that there is a reserve just 300 metres away in Fulham Way, which is almost four times bigger and has lots of play equipment including an adventure fort, monkey bars, slides, swings and climbing equipment.
There’s an even bigger reserve in Bellavista Drive – just 240 metres away – that has a slide, timber maze, monkey bars and a spinner, as well as other child-friendly play equipment.
Council’s infrastructure director, and report author, Nick Mann said the council’s open space strategy and play space planning framework included a target to provide equipment within a 400- to 500-metre walk of every house.
He estimated a small playground would cost about $50,000 to install.
Lexi Cottee
