Plans for the revamp of one of Brighton’s biggest playgrounds are to be revealed by the end of the month.
Brighton and Hove City Council has earmarked £146,000 for new playground equipment in Queen’s Park – the biggest share of the £3 million allocated for revamps of 45 council owned playgrounds which started in 2021.
After the Friends of Queens Park raised concerns about the suitability of plastic play equipment used in the early revamps for the Grade II listed park, the council agreed to a wider consultation on what should be included.
A council spokesman said: “We expect to be able to award the contract soon – hopefully in the next couple of weeks. There have been some delays in the procurement process and we apologise for this.
“No information can be shared on the winning bidder or the design until the winning bidder has been formally notified and has accepted.
“The results of the public consultation have been the basis of the procurement exercise and the public will be shown the designs and equipment selected as part of two community feedback sessions for Queens Park.
“Installation work normally starts around 65 days after a contract has been awarded. We will get a start date from the winning bidder once the contract is awarded.”
The delay has been criticised by Labour candidate Tristram Burden, who launched a petition calling for action to replace the playground’s broken equipment.
Mr Burden wrote: “The consultation for the Queen’s Park play area closed April 2022. We’ve had a year of council inaction, where residents have only seen park equipment disappear with no installation of new equipment or resurfacing. We demand the upgrade NOW!
“This petition calls for Brighton Hove City Council to action the consultation and make the play area a worthwhile space for kids to play in!
“Please sign and share with your views and experiences and let’s get the council to finally make this play area what Queen’s Park kids and beyond need and deserve!”
Queen’s Park was last given a facelift in 2010, one of 13 playgrounds to benefit from a £1.1 million government grant.
The £3 million for this round of revamps has come from developers’ contributions to the council as part of planning agreements, known as Section 106 money.
The end of the month has come and gone do we have any updates?
6 weeks later and no updates. We even have a new council but still our children get to miss out playing in one of the best parks in Brighton because of a mystery event nobody will talk about.
A promised press release has still not materialised and there is definitely something going on at the council about this that they won’t talk about (nor will friends of queens park, the volunteer group). What exactly is happening and why have the press not covered it?