NEW PLAYGROUND GETS BUILT!!
With great thanks to Rother District Community Grant Fund and the funding from the Parish Council along with the invaluable feedback from Westfield Primary School lead by the School Council, Westfield residents now have use of a new and improved playground! Over £70,000 of playground equipment has now been installed along with new grass matting and the old equipment being removed. Further works to the fencing is planned later in the year and new footpath will also be installed. The Parish Council hope all of the children enjoy their new playground!
The Parish Council has been working on a an overall ‘Open Spaces Project’ based on feedback given in a parish wide consultation back in 2019. This has been followed up with additional consultations. Based on feedback the Open Spaces Project has been broken down into to main areas:
- A Parish wide Biodiversity Masterplan
- Improvements to the the Recreational Ground
Further details on the Biodiversity Masterplan will be released at the Annual Parish Assembly in September 2025.
Plans to redevelop the playground at the recreation ground has been ongoing for the last year and Councillors are please to announce that the application for a £26,266 grant from Rother was approved in March 2025. The Parish Council will be match funding this amount giving a total sum of £53,000 to carry out the works.
The Parish Council has been working with Westfield Primary School and their School Council to choose and develop plans for the new equipment. The School and pupils have been key in choosing which pieces should stay and what new equipment they wanted. Cllr Nijhuis and the Parish Officer/Clerk went to the School Council and discussed the project with them. This was important because it enabled the Parish Council to explain the financial restraints and bring in all the catalogues for the children to look at the range of equipment but also highlight the cost of some items. Then the school council went through the catalogue and identified the type of equipment they liked in general terms. The students then suggested booklets with option were made for each class for all the students to given their feedback. This was incredibly successful and based on this the Parish Council to use this feedback as part of the tender review matrix. The chosen company also offered the Parish Council a substantial discount on the equipment enabling the Parish Council to buy nearly all the chosen items.
Chosen Play Equipment
The above is the proposed layout for the new playground equipment. All new equipment looked to be inclusive as possible. It will require the removal of some of the older redundant playground equipment and the old swings. It also offers the opportunity to move equipment from areas that get water logged and install new grass matting which will help with future issues of water logging. The new playground area will feature the following:
- For older children
- New swings x 4
- A new Multi Play Unit with slides
- Spinner
- For younger children a new toddler area will be created with:
- New swings
- A playhouse
- A new Multi Play Unit
Work is now underway to look at installing a new footpath and repairing the fencing. Additional planting will also be carried out along the fence for a new hedge to improve the biodiversity in the area.
Westfield Parish Council 