Kia ora koutou,

Thank you for your patience as we worked towards a final design for the Burbank Crescent play area, based on the main themes that came through in our public consultation. You can view the final design here.

Most submitters liked the proposed design, though there was one submitter who opposed spending any money on the renewal. The primary driver for the renewal is that the assets have reached the end of life, they are fully depreciated, the current play area is over 24 years old and has non-compliance issues to the current NZ Standards for playground equipment and surfacing.

We have then tried to accommodate additional requests where we can, these include:

• Providing for shade - the two existing seats that are already under cover of the canopy are staying as they are, and following the build, the Parks Tree Team will be planting 2 shade trees (deciduous, Ginko biloba and Fraxinus ornus) next to the relocated bench seats.
• Replacing the bee springer with the seesaw style rocker, and this unit can accommodate up to 4 users.
• We have adjusted entry to the module, with the addition of stairs to facilitate easy access for younger users.
• An inclusive swing seat has been added that can accommodate any user irrespective of age or ability, and this is within the area that has synthetic surfacing, to have some provision for accessible features.
• There was a request to improve general maintenance of the site, which was largely to do the with the paths and trees that overhang them. I have met with our Parks Tree Team, and we looked at maintenance over the access ways, removal of dead and leaning trees, which they have created a job sheet for. This is job is deemed low priority, with a lead-in time of 12 months. However, they will quite often carry out work well inside this time frame, as they can tie work together when in an area.

There were some requests that we were not able to accommodate, largely to do with budget constraints, the layout of the site, and what we would expect for this category of play area (neighbourhood).

Examples include:

• We retained the fixed bridge rather than replace it with a swing bridge, as that is better access for all users, including younger children.
• Adding a fountain, this is not expected in a neighbourhood play area, which is deemed your local play space designed for a quick play. In addition there are no water connections within the park, and the cost of trenching to site would be large, ultimately that then would be a trade-off with some of the equipment.
• Adding a toilet, this is not expected in a neighbourhood play area, which is deemed your local play space designed for a quick play. Funding of toilets is not covered within the play spaces budget, and the cost is substantially more than the entire build of the new play area.
• Adding a flying fox, as that would have involved a trade off with replacing the main module.

We have yet to lock in the construction dates, but the expectation is that the site will be completed prior to the end of the financial year, which is 30 June 2024.