The Committee was advised that in recent months the Council’s Open Spaces and Community Development Manager had been working on realising the play area programme as approved by the Community Services Committee and the Corporate Management Committee in September and October 2023 respectively.

This work started with a series of ward briefings in Summer 2023 where feedback and comments were sought around the condition of play areas within the wards as well as a priority list of replacements.

The ward briefings for Englefield Green focused primarily on the play area on the Green itself, which was showing signs of deterioration and had several health and safety issues.

A project was put forward through the Englefield Green S106 Major Fund Scheme and was approved by Officers and Members.  The fund was from a S106 payment connected to a planning application which was approved by the Council in 2018, relating to the development of the Runnymede Campus, at Coopers Hill Lane, Englefield Green.

Within its Green Spaces and Housing areas, Runnymede Borough Council currently provides and maintains 42 play areas.  The Council is committed to providing well-designed, exciting, and accessible play areas for the enjoyment of users/residents.

A budget of £80,000 was proposed to completely replace the play equipment on Englefield Green.  The specifications were drawn up between Open Space Development, Green Spaces and Procurement.  The project went out as one lot amongst ten others in a large programme of works.

One bid for the Englefield Green Lot (Lot 5) had been received and totalled £35,898.42.  The reason for the lower amount was due to economies of scale within the programme.  Due to the aesthetics of the Green itself, the specification for the play area material was stipulated to be timber.  Officers felt this would be a significant improvement to the current metal equipment on site.

Costs directly associated with the new play area were envisaged to be through the S106 funds available to the Council.  This had been approved by a group of Members and Officers but there was a suggestion that alternative funds (Englefield Green Earmarked Reserves) could be used.

The Committee were all in agreement that the play area needed updating.  The health and safety of children was a priority.   It was noted that previous resistance from local residents for improvements to the play area included an extension, whereby the proposal for current consideration was replacement of play equipment within the existing footprint.  It was noted that the ground surface would also be replaced.

 
The S106 money received was for use in Englefield Green only, thereby if members used ringfenced funds to progress the play area the S106 monies would be used for other projects in Englefield Green. 

The Committee discussed both options in detail, with differing opinions being voiced on which funding to use.    After consideration the Committee

Resolved that:

The procurement of replacement equipment for the play area be approved

The replacement equipment be paid for with the Englefield Green Ringfenced fund and not from Section 106 monies