£200,000 plan for playground where swings are 67 years old

A PLAYGROUND with a history stretching back 107 years is to be redesigned with the help of the children who use it.
The Parliament Hill play area, next to the running track at Hampstead Heath and dating from 1897, was earmarked for renovation last year by Heath managers the Corporation of London. But a cash crisis has delayed the plans – until now.
According to parents and children, the swings and slides are in desperate need of renovation. But Corporation finance chiefs were forced to delay issuing a questionnaire on the playground’s future until the Heath’s recent budget crisis was resolved.
The £200,000 refurbishment is due to be funded from the Heath’s capital budget rather than its £5.5 million management budget so it will not affect the running of the Heath’s other high-profile attractions, such as the ponds, the subject of a recent prolonged battle over proposed charges.
Heath staff are now resuming a consultation with parents and other user groups that was originally supposed to have finished last summer. It is hoped to have initial plans available for inspection around Easter.
A spokesman for the Corporation said: “Unfortunately, it was one of the things that had to be put on the backburner until the budget re-alignment.
“Now we are talking to a number of users to find out how we can best improve the play area.
“We hope to have some new equipment in there by the autumn.”
Amy Silverston, of Tufnell Park Parents’ Support Group, one of the groups involved in the consultation, said she had been impressed by the management’s determination to consult parents.
She said: “The superintendent, Simon Lee, came to one of our meetings and was apologetic about the delay. They are keen to go ahead with the renovation and hear our views on it.”
So far, proposals for the new play area, which has swings which were installed in 1938, include new equipment and separate areas for under-fives and children aged five to 12.