Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Executive Councillor (Supporting Places)

The report sets out the background to the commissioning of a Play Review to assess current provision and to advise on how play areas should be managed in the future. The Review set out ten recommendations suggesting Stockport Council adopt a renewed strategic approach to securing play area provision for the future. The report’s appendices set out the proposed response to the recommendations.

The Executive is recommended to:

·         note the recommendations of the Play Review and approve the proposed actions developed in response to them (set out in Appendix B and the Action Plan at Appendix C) and

·         request the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration to develop proposals for the implementation of the investment opportunities identified in Appendix D and to identify funding, including the use of Transition Grant funding.

Officer contact: Richard Booker, 0161 474 4829, richard.booker@stockport.gov.uk

The Executive Councillor (Supporting Places) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Executive to consider the recommendations contained in the recently commissioned of a Play Review to assess current provision and to advise on how play areas should be managed in the future including the adoption of a renewed strategic approach to securing play area provision for the future. The report’s appendices set out the proposed response to the recommendations.

RESOLVED – That in relation to the Play Review:-

·         the recommendations of the Review be noted and the proposed actions developed in response to them (set out in Appendix B and the Action Plan at Appendix C) be approved, and

·         the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration be requested to develop proposals for the implementation of the investment opportunities identified in Appendix D and to identify funding, including the use of Transition Grant funding.

To consider a report of the Chief Executive

The report sets out the outcome of the Play Review which was specifically to assess current provision and considers how play areas should be managed in the future.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to comment on the Council’s proposed actions in response to the Play Review recommendations.

Officer Contact: Richard Booker on 0161 474 4829 or email: richard.booker@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Chief Executive submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) regarding the outcome of the Play Review which had been undertaken specifically to assess current provision and how play areas should be managed in the future.

The Executive Councillor (Supporting Places) (Councillor Martin Candler) attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions. He advised that following the transitional grant received by the Council from the Government, the Executive had decided to allocate £400,000 of that money towards the partial implementation of some of the issues raised in the report.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·        The Scrutiny Committee welcomed the fact the Executive had agreed to earmark £400,000 of the transitional grant from the Government towards the partial implementation of some of the issues raised in the report.

·        Concern was expressed that, although the consultants’ report was useful, it had not provided any new information and could perhaps have been provided by Council Officers at a cheaper cost.

·        A Member requested a list of the 33 Active Friends of Park Groups and 12 inactive Friends of Park Groups. He felt that that the individual Friends of Park Groups should have been consulted on the proposals, not just the Greenspace Forum.

·        It was contended that the report started from the premise of making savings.

·        As a result of insufficient maintenance funding it was no longer viable for the Council to take on responsibility for new play sites that resulted from new residential development. If a developer went bankrupt, for example, there was potentially no-one to maintain or support the site. Even if a developer maintained play equipment for, say, twenty five years, there was no guarantee that they would do so in perpetuity. A lot of play equipment was only guaranteed for between five and ten years.

·        Concern was expressed that the balance of the report was moving too far away from the installation of new play equipment.

·        A Member requested examples where natural play could provide the same level of excitement for young people as play equipment.

·        There was support for the proposal for Local Areas of Play (LAPs) to have a more natural environment, However, some Wards were dominated by LAPs with, for example, eleven out of the sixteen play areas in the Cheadle Hulme South Ward being LAPs and a number being of limited value as a play facility. Nevertheless, it was felt anecdotally that parents throughout the borough often preferred their children to go to a nearby LAP than a playground.

·        The view was expressed that commuted sums should be used to support current play areas, rather than develop new ones.

·        The Scrutiny Committee welcomed Play England’s objective to ‘imagine a play space where disabled and non-disabled children play together’.

·        Concern was expressed that the report proposed to focus on a smaller number of ‘key equipped play spaces’.

·        The report lacked any reference to creative ways to fund open spaces, for example Lottery funding or health funding streams.

·        The report needed to address the procurement of play equipment as some of the suppliers had changed.

·        A Member requested an update on the play area at Devonshire Park (Macclesfield Road), Hazel Grove.

·        There were opportunities to liaise with the contractors for the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road to seek monies to improve play areas in the vicinity of the road.

RESOLVED – That the Executive consider the Scrutiny Committee’s comments on the Council’s proposed actions in response to the recommendations of the Play Review.