Good News from Playground Audit

An independent audit of all playgrounds in New Plymouth District has resulted in approval of their high level of maintenance.


However, more work is needed to make many playgrounds comply with the New Zealand Playground Standards.

“I’m very happy with the report because the auditor recognised that our level of maintenance was at the higher end of the scale for New Zealand playgrounds, and we now know what we have to do to comply with the national standards,” says Manager Parks Mark Bruhn.

The audit of the district’s 49 playgrounds found they were generally old, but the level of maintenance had kept these ageing assets in a safe, useable condition.

Fifty per cent of the playgrounds were compliant with the playground standards – which has since increased to 58 per cent due to remedial work that addressed all the immediate safety concerns identified.

The auditor said many of the non-compliance issues were minor and could wait to be fixed when the playgrounds themselves were renewed.

The report also praised the council’s maintenance staff for their “real understanding” of the wear on materials and the impact on a playground through children playing, and also on child safety.

“This is high praise for the team from someone who has audited 1,800 playgrounds throughout the country,” says Mr Bruhn.

“This also gives us the opportunity to talk with the community about a playground strategy, so that we can find out how many playgrounds are required, their locations and how many pieces of play equipment they should have.”

Funding for making improvements so that all playgrounds meet the national standards will be considered in early 2009 as part of the Draft Community Plan 2009-2019 process.

In the meantime, work will begin on preparing the Playground Strategy.

“The timing is ideal because what comes out of the Playground Strategy will help us target our funding so that we get the right playground equipment into the right places,” says Mr Bruhn.