By Joe McCann
ARDS and North Down Council is continuing with its plan to upgrade and modernise play parks across the borough.
Island View playpark in Greyabbey and the Moss Road multi-use games area (MUGA) in Ballygowan are due to be completed by the end of this month, with the Seafront play park in Groomsport already completed.
For the upcoming year, £1,125,000 has been allocated for improvements and the parks which are scheduled to receive upgrades include Tullymally in Portaferry (£85,000), Glenford in Newtownards (£170,000), Skipperstone (£170,000) and Sportsplex (£170,000), both in Bangor.
The park in Ballyhalbert will be upgraded to a Tier 1 playpark for £250,000 and the park on the Ballywalter Road in Millisle will also receive a £250,000 upgrade.
Additional provision for older children is also planned, including a new facility at Cloughey Road in Portaferry (£200,000), a youth shelter beside the new pump track at The Commons in Donaghadee (£15,000) and a basketball area behind the tennis pavilion in Ward Park, Bangor (£15,000).
Councillors praised the plans but an amendment by DUP alderman Robert Adair to take Glenford playpark off the list and replace it with Abbott Gardens park instead failed.
Speaking on the issue and praising the increase in budget for playparks Mr Adair: “The fundamental issue is we are not investing enough money in our play parks because the message we have got from the public is they do not support closures of play parks and they want to see investment in the current ones. £500,000 was not enough to deliver 21st century play parks for our borough.
“I welcome in this year’s rate setting process, the budget has been increased and that enables us to deliver better, modern 21st century play parks for children, making them more accessible and [with] older children’s provision as well.”
Mr Adair welcomed the news that Ballyhalbert would be getting an upgrade and said, “For many times, Ballyhalbert feels like a forgotten village, but now they’re getting something.”
“I’m also delighted that Millisle is going to get a new tier one play park as well. That play park came in around 2000 but has come to the end of its life,” he added, and praised the upgrades for Tullymally too. Concerning his amendment, alderman Adair asked on behalf of party colleague alderman Stephen McIlveen that the committee reconsider the order of play park upgrades.
Mr Adair suggested leaving Glenford play park for now because it is linked to the new park and ride and will receive money for upgrades through this and suggested Bowtown play park, at Abbot Gardens, be included instead.
SDLP councillor Joe Boyle rejected this, saying even the council director was unsure of how this amendment would work as the details on the park and ride were still being sorted out
and said until that was sorted, it was ‘putting the cart before the horse’. Mr Boyle said many communities were getting fantastic news with these upgrades and he didn’t agree with altering this process.
Alderman Lorna McAlpine, said: “I, like councillor Boyle, who have an aversion to cherry picking out of independent reports, it worries me because I think it does away with the actual point of having an independent report.”
Councillor Tom Brady also agreed with this point and said: “I think it’s very important that we spread these refurbishments fairly.”
The amendment failed, with five votes for, seven against and three abstentions.
Commenting on the issue, Peninsula councillor Pete Wray added:
“Ballyhalbert has been waiting so long for a much needed upgrade of their play park. I’m delighted that finally the community will get the provision they deserve. Refurbishments at the park in Millisle, and older children provision in Portaferry is also good news for the Ards Peninsula and the families who avail of these facilities on such a regular basis.
“Play parks can be a contentious issue. Ultimately elected members and the community should have their say, but it’s correct that we are led by an independent report. That takes any bias away from the decision process and avoids communities being pitted against each other. Every community across the borough deserves good facilities, and that’s what we are trying to achieve.”
