COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 08, 2018

QUESTION NO. 10

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to present a report on the delivery of the Playspace Programme and in responding will he give details of future plans in that regard.

REPLY:

The Playspace programme in South Dublin County Council is a five year programme that commenced in 2014. The provision of playgrounds in the recent past concentrated on large, formally equipped and defined playgrounds with highly specialised equipment. The playspace programme aims to provide opportunities to play. This type of play allows children to develop their imagination, challenge their abilities, deal with risk and, critically, adapt their own environment.

The Play Space programme was established following the identification of a deficit of play areas for children in this county. This was documented in the policy document ‘Developing play in South Dublin County’ adopted by the Council in June 2006. However the development of play areas / playgrounds did not result in the immediate aftermath, due to the economic downturn and lack of development generally.

In recent years there has been an emphasis on the physical and mental well-being of children. Over the past 20 years there has been a significant rise in levels of obesity, childhood diabetes, high levels of stress and increasing sedentary lifestyles. A report the National Taskforce on Obesity estimates that 300,000 children in Ireland are now obese.

Due to a variety of factors children are less likely to wander far from their own homes. A study in the UK documented the distance children travelled from home for play; the results showed that the distance children roam from home on their own has shrunk by 90% since the 70s; 43% of adults think a child shouldn't play outdoors unsupervised until the age of 14. So children are increasingly confined to the immediate environs of their homes. This results in children’s activity being dependant on the immediate environment of their homes being conducive to a wide variety of play opportunities and social interaction; which is not so readily available in sterile landscapes of mown grass.

Delivery of Playspace Programme 2014-2018

The Play Space Programme is scheduled for completion at the end of 2018. The programme has been very successful to date, particularly taking into account the difficulties encountered during the early phases. The programme has progressed with hard work and significant active involvement from elected members and local communities, and direct engagement with children; the Council can be proud to be in a position where it is now perceived to be at the vanguard of creating new play opportunities close to where children live. It can also be proud to have embraced a new type of play space delivery – using the concepts of Natural Play and where children can create their own play opportunities.

Delivery to date

The following 17 play space projects have been constructed to date:

In addition, the new Natural Playground in Tymon Park has opened to great acclaim and in Griffeen Valley Park the existing playground was upgraded and extended to include natural play.

Planned Programme

The total budget to complete the play space programme in 2018 is approximately €1,000,000. Design and build construction tenders are underway for a number of sites throughout the county. As most of the remaining sites are in larger open spaces or parklands it is intended to progress them as soon as possible prior to completion of the programme at year end. List for progression is as follows:

The end of this year marks the completion of the 2014-2018 playspace programme. Going forward new playspaces can continue to be built at other locations where appropriate, however future projects will require funding approval through an annual capital budget allocation.