Published on Wednesday, 21 August 2019 at 9:20:08 AM
Council considered the results of our first Pop Up Play projects at the 20 August Council meeting and decided to make the play spaces at Woodville Reserve and Britannia Reserve into permanent features.
“We have had a great deal of positive feedback on the play spaces we created at Woodville, Britannia and Beatty Park. We asked our community what they thought and the overwhelming consensus was that our community want the spaces to stay,” said Mayor Emma Cole.
“Our Pop Up Play spaces are all about creating more opportunities for children and young people to connect with each other and enjoy creative, challenging outdoor play. It has been a fantastic experience to watch how these spaces are now being used and the enjoyment they are bringing to so many local kids, teenagers and young people.”
Results of the Pop Up Play consultation were presented at the 21 August Council Meeting. The City received 145 responses, the majority relating to the bike trail and pump track at Britannia Reserve. Of those who commented on Britannia Reserve, 91% were in favour of the pump track and bike trail, 6% weren’t in favour and 3% didn’t indicate support but had suggestions.
“The comments from our community have been amazing. They talk about kids spending hours at the pump track and bike trail rather than being on their screens; teenagers being excited to have challenge, a sense of escape and adventure; and that this new space has been a magnet for kids of all ages. There has been genuine excitement and our community has really embraced this. They are clearly telling us they would like it to stay,” said Mayor Emma Cole.
Kidsafe WA has also given the pump track and bike trail the tick of approval, finding no safety concerns or issues identified on the day of inspection and that the design of both tracks had been well executed.
“The City of Vincent should be congratulated for providing such a fantastic space both for BMX riders and younger children on the pump track. It is heartening to see a local government use a common sense approach to safety to encourage their residents (and I am sure residents of other areas) to spend time outdoors in this great space,” said Tracy Blaszkow, Manager of Play at Kidsafe WA.
The City has reallocated $40,000 in our budget this financial year to implement more Pop Up Play across Vincent, which includes extending the bike trail at Britannia and Pop Up Play at Birdwood Square to come next.
Ideas proposed by locals for future projects included more BMX pump tracks, obstacle courses, parkour equipment and sand pyramids.
The next pop up play initiatives include one at Birdwood Square, opposite Highgate Primary School, and parkour outside Loftus Recreation Centre. Like all of the Pop Up Play spaces created to date, the parkour build is small scale and uses easily accessible materials.
“We trialed some parkour equipment at our North Perth Common Opening Event in June and it was hugely popular with kids of all ages, particularly the older kids who enjoyed the challenge of climbing, jumping and swinging on the bars,” said Mayor Cole.
“What we are finding through our Pop Up Play initiative is that kids don’t need a great deal of fancy equipment; they just need to be invited into spaces and given the permission to play and create in their own way.”
To share your thoughts and tell us what kinds of Pop Up Play you would like to see in your neighbourhood visit imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au
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