The Playground Development Committee met last week to discuss updates regarding the development of a new playground in Trim. The following is a summary of the issues that face us at present: a) The Town Council has informed us that if a new playground is to be built anywhere in the town, the existing playground will remain open and will be maintained by the Town Council on an ongoing basis into the future. b) The Town Council expect members of the community, namely the five current members of the Playground Development Committee to remain involved in the day to day running of any new playground indefinitely, on a voluntary basis, by becoming Trustees of the new Playground. The trustees would retain responsibility for maintenance of the playground (with the exception of maintenance of the playground equipment, which would remain the Town Councils responsibility). It is impossible to measure the extent of these responsibilities without seeing a draft Deed of Trust but regardless of the contents of such a Deed, the existing Development Committee are entirely opposed to the idea of taking on significant and ongoing personal responsibility for the running of a public amenity and for tasks that are currently carried out by the Town Council and have traditionally always been in the Town Councils budget. As regards the location of a new playground, the options presented to us by the Town Council are as follows: 1) South Porchfields, opposite the B&B 2) The King and Queen, Porchfields 3) Site behind Tower View, facing on to the Ring Road. 4) The site opposite the existing playground (near the OPW offices) 5) The existing playground. The council have informed us that it is the Playground Development Committees decision which site is chosen. The Committee have discussed the matter in detail and the issues concerning us are as follows: 1) Option 1 - This is a beautiful site and would make for a spacious playground which we hope could be designed in consultation with the local people. Option 2: The King and Queen: Again, this is a site which enjoys an unrivalled views of Trims famous landmarks. A playground here would be a great draw for families visiting the town and the castle, and would very much enhance Trims attractiveness as a local family destination. It would also provide a fantastic local amenity, right in the heart of the town. In relation to Options 1 and 2, we feel the following issues are major stumbling blocks to the development of a state of the art playground: 1) The Council will not provide Toilet Facilities for either location. The committee feel that this is impractical as young children cannot wait until they are walked into town to the nearest convenience in a pub or hotel. This is particularly true for the South Porchfields which is a good walk from the nearest toilet. 2) No designated parking. Any of the local parking is already well in demand by walkers and visitors and could be a considerable walk away from either location for families with small children or mobility issues. 3) No pedestrian crossing to either Playground in the immediate future. This could be rectified in the future but there are no guarantees and at the very least, we would have a medium-term situation where families with small children would have to navigate a very busy road without designated crossing. 4) Both of these sites would of course have possible archaeological issues and would require preliminary archaeological survey which would take time and money and might ultimately prevent the development of a playground. Furthermore, due to their location it may be necessary to seek the consent of the OPW and/or Ministerial Consent, which could delay matters. 5) Not everyone wants development in the Porchfield and we are mindful of that. Option 3: Tower View/Facing Athboy Road: This option was considered at length by the committee at the outset of our campaign and after asking the community for your views, it was felt that it would be much more advantageous to keep the playground in the heart of the town, for both local businesses and playground users. Also, it faces a very busy road and could be vulnerable to anti-social behaviour because of its somewhat secluded location. Again there would be no toilets provided. Option 4) The site opposite the existing playground (near O.P.W. offices): This was originally the most favoured site of the committee. It is in the heart of the town, close to the facilities of the OPW building (ie coffee shop and toilets) and easily accessible for residents and visitors alike. Very unfortunately, after a feasibility study, the following issues were identified: a) It appears that there are overhead electricity lines on this site which would need to be buried underground. The Town Council will not fund this and this would mean that tens of thousands of euro of fundraising would be spent simply preparing the site. b) It is in the immediate vicinity of the original town wall and so there will be a need for an archaeological survey and ministerial consent and in the Town Councils words would be the most expensive option. Very reluctantly due to all of the above, the Committee do not feel this site is an affordable place to locate the new playground. Option 5: Improving the existing playground: The existing playground is in a great central location with plenty of parking nearby. However, it is very small and we understand from the council that it cannot be extended beyond the current boundary for various reasons, namely the proximity of the river and existence of a flood plain. As we discussed at our most recent meeting, the population of the town has grown exponentially since the building of the first playground and we feel a much larger playground is now needed. The Council feel the current playground is fit for purpose, which obviously we disagree with and which was borne out by an inspection we had carried out last year. As we stated above, if a new playground is built on another site in Trim, the Town Council have stated to us that they will maintain the existing playground and it will continue in existence as a playground. The committee do not wish to see the towns limited resources diluted in such a way. Therefore, given the very limited choices presented to us, the committee very reluctantly feel that perhaps the best way forward is to renovate the current playground, notwithstanding our reservations as to its size and the fact we feel that such a small playground cannot possibly service the children of a town the size of Trim. At the outset of this project, we envisaged a State of the Art amenity for Trim, similar to those we see in neighbouring counties of Dublin (such as Malahide Castle, Cabinteely, Newbridge Demesne etc) or in Kildare (Maynooth, Clane etc), appealable to all ages of children and to those with special needs, including wheelchair users, with easily accessible essential facilities such as toilets and parking. We hoped Trim Playground would represent a really attractive choice for both resident and visiting families who were deciding where to spend a sunny afternoon or family day out. Despite the fact a new playground has been on Trim Town Councils agenda for more than six years, despite exhaustive efforts on the part of the Development Committee for almost a year now and despite the fact we have such enthusiastic local support, we are coming to the conclusion that it simply does not seem possible to achieve this in Trim. We want to make sure we continue to be the voice of the community however and you will see a separate post asking you to vote for your preference. As always, the views of the community are of the utmost importance to us and we will take all of your comments and preferences on board when presenting our decision to the Council at our meeting next week. Signed: Trim Playground Development Committee
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 09:27:24 +0000
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