Kia ora koutou,

Thank you for your patience as we worked towards a final design for the Homebush Park play area, based on the predominant themes that came through public consultation. Option two was the favourite between the two designs presented - you can view the final design here.

88% of submitters supported the renewal, with 12% questioning or opposing it. 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 18 years old and has non-compliance issues in relation to the current NZ Standards for playground equipment and surfacing, on different pieces of equipment and has no safety surfacing.

The budget that is funding the project is for the renewal of existing play area assets, and if we weren’t doing the renewal here, then the budget would be spent on one of our other 107 sites.

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

• Investigating the options around improving the access to the site from the road.
• Taking advice from the Landfill Team on whether we could accommodate some trees for shade provision here, but we are mindful that this site is a closed landfill, so we have to avoid breaching the cap.
• Talking to our Tree Team on remedial pruning, based on their assessment of the trees and site.
• Confirming that the existing furniture remains on site, which will be refurbished.
• The swings are being positioned such that we retain the views into the harbour and city. Please note that we can’t replicate the views of the city and harbour in the renders, so this is indicative imagery only.

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:

• Adding fencing, as this is typically based on the risk assessment of a site, which is most commonly associated with its proximity to roads.
• Making the site or part of the site an official dog exercise area, as this did not come up during the Dog Policy Review.
• Adding an outdoor fitness station.
• Adding power for a coffee cart.
• Adding parking.

We have yet to lock in the construction dates, but the expectation is that we will be targeting a dry weather build.