COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 09, 2019

QUESTION NO. 33

QUESTION: Councillor E. Murphy

Can the Chief Executive please provide a report on the playspaces that have been implemented in 2018 and 2019? Can the report provide details on any instances of antisocial behaviour being reported and any remedial works that needed to be carried out to any of the play spaces?

REPLY:

The Playspace programme in South Dublin County Council is a 5 Year Programme that commenced in 2014. 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.

Delivery of Playspace Programme

The Play Space Programme is in the final stages of completion with a total of 43 plagrounds and playspaces now provided by the council across the county; a number of playspaces are underway in 2019, which will see the completion of the programme.The programme has been very successful to date and has progressed through the significant active involvement from elected members and local communities, and direct engagement with children; this Council is now recognised favourably for creating new play opportunities close to where children live. A new type of play space delivery has been achieved – using the concepts of Natural Play and where children can create their own play opportunities. Design and build construction tenders are underway for a number of sites throughout the county. The following playgrounds were completed in 2018 / 2019 or are currently in the final stages of being completed as part of the playspace programme.

Completed 2018/2019

Bancroft Park

Tymon Limekiln

Willsbrook Park

Whitechurch

Glendown

Lucan Demesne

Ballymount Park

Perrystown

Underway:

Jobstown Park (large:) tender underway

Greenhills: completed but requires more grass growth before opening. Estimated opening in 2 weeks

Newcastle: Currently at Part 8 Stage

Collinstown Park (large): Currently at tender stage

Delaford: (on hold due to adjacent  construction works)

Old Bawn: Currently at Part 8 Stage

Firhouse: at design stage

Public Realm receive no complaints about the vast majority of playspaces and vandalism is thankfully relatively rare. We occasionally get reports of people using swings at night and being loud and we also have damage to fencing and gates from kids swinging on them. The issue of vandalism is taken very seriously and continuously the council works to prevent it. When designing play facilities we concentrate primarily on using suitable materials rather than on fencing to restrict entry. There is also an emphasis on restricting potential for anti-social activity through choosing locations carefully, ensuring openness, visibility and selecting appropriate and very robust equipment.

Over the past 2 years incidents have taken place at our playgrounds on occasions; incidences of vandalised and broken equipment are low as increasingly more robust equipment is used. The Council have moved away from using predominantly rubber safety surfacing to natural materials which are less flammable and as a result our playgrounds are much less susceptible to vandalism.

In 2018, expenditure of approx. €86,000 is recorded as spent on repairs. To date in 2019, approx. €72,000 is recorded as spent on repairs. The expenditure on repairs to playgrounds shown includes costs for on-going maintenance, normal wear and tear as well as repair following incidents of vandalism; in some cases the repairs also incorporate design changes to prevent damage going forward or make an item more robust. The recent increase in the amount of playspaces the Council have in charge would lead one to expect an increase in repair costs due to the extra quantity of facilities but, to date, annual costs remain reasonably constant.

With regard to preventing future attacks on our public facilities, the Council urges people to report any vandalism that they are aware of to the Council and the Gardai. 

There has been significant investment in providing high quality play, recreational and sporting facilities across the county in recent years and the council is committed to keeping them open and operational. The Council will continue to work closely An Garda Siochana and the public at large in the management of anti-social behaviour.