Park upgrade

I learned that Kā piti Coast District Council was holding a meeting at Regent Drive park on Sunday, February 18 regarding the upgrade to the park. I was interested as I live just around the corner so I attended.

There I found under a gazebo, one person from the council and two further people with ‘park supporting’ logos. Unsurprisingly there were only a couple of interested people in attendance which gives some idea of the level of interest, practically nil! On speaking to the council rep and the other two support staff I looked over the plans that were drawn up, my first thoughts were how overengineered this whole upgrade was with astro turf and multi-coloured signs. I was advised this was to make it more inclusive.

The idea of this meeting was to gain feedback, but I was advised this upgrade was a done deal. The point is this. I walk or drive past that park every day and there is almost no one using any part of it, it’s just a nice to have green space. This is an area with very few young families or children and installing brightly coloured swings and roundabouts isn’t going to change the demographic. The conversation with the council rep changed to what’s it going to cost. He calmly told me that $150,000 was the budget and it would take six weeks to complete.

To summarise, we have an almost unused but safe park with swings, slides and all good things with soft landing areas, perfectly fit for use, that the council have deemed is past its use-by date. So, already deeply in debt, the council has decided to spend $150k on replacing a perfectly good but unused facility.

Thankfully after some fierce debate, the council have backtracked on The Gateway project but have still missed the memo on saving wherever possible.

Lionel Wilson

Paraparaumu Beach