West Gore Playgrounds Review

Review Outcome

We want to thank everyone who took the time to take part in our review. You gave a clear directive to the Council, which is reflected in the outcome.

All three playgrounds will retain their recreational reserve status, but we will be removing the play equipment from the Merlin Street and Moa Place playgrounds.

Sword Street will be developed, as budgets allow, into a playground catering for older children.

We are reviewing the future of three recreational reserves in West Gore. They are:

• Merlin Place Playground

• Sword Street Playground

• Moa Place Playground

The review has been prompted by the opening of the Gore Kids Hub playground, which has created an abundance of playgrounds in the same area.

We want to know if the three reserves should be retained as reserves and/or playgrounds, or could they be used for something else. If so, what ideas do people have.

The review is in accordance with Section 24(2)(b) of the Reserves Act 1977.

Playground details

• Merlin Place playground: This reserve is 811sqm, with two road frontages on to Broughton Street and Merlin Place.
• Sword Street playground: This reserve is 1,745sqm, fronting Sword Street to the west and surrounded by houses.
• Moa Place playground: The reserve is 2,178sqm and fronts the Moa Place cul-de-sac. There is a walkway through to Charlton Road and the site is adjacent to Council-owned land in Charlton Road.

The Options

Our preferred option is to remove the recreational reserve status of the Merlin Place and Sword Street reserves, and remove play equipment from the three playgrounds.

There may be other options for these reserves we have not considered. These include:

• Retaining recreational reserve status and the open space, but removing the play equipment

• Retaining recreational reserve status and upgrading the play equipment so it caters for older children

The Reason

Historically, there has been an oversupply of playgrounds in the West Gore area. The opening of the Gore Kids Hub playground added to this and presented us with an opportunity to review some of the older reserves that have old and outdated play equipment.

We know Gore has a significantly higher percentage of recreational opportunities than other councils around New Zealand. A 2017 New Zealand Recreation Association yardstick benchmarking study showed we have more playgrounds per 1000 children than most other councils.

Our level of service target is to have a playground or open space for community recreation within 10 minutes walk or 500 metres of an urban home.

Adding to the playgrounds in this area, there are also school grounds available for public use out of school hours.

The Impact

Should the feedback we get from the public support removing the recreational reserve status from Merlin Place and Sword Street playgrounds, we may look at selling the sites for future development. Both are zoned residential.

Moa Street is more strategically located, sharing a boundary to Council-owned land in Charlton Road, and therefore, we may choose to retain it.

Making A Submission

Anyone can make a submission. If you register with our Let's Talk site, then your details will automatically be entered in any future consultations you want to be involved in.

Submissions are open until 5.00pm Wednesday 14 October

You can make a submission the following ways:

Online: Use the submission form below.

Or download a submission form (see Documents), fill it in then:

Email: lets.talks@goredc.govt.nz with West Gore Playgrounds Review in the subject line

Post to:

NZFreepost Authority 213 (no stamp necessary)

Gore District Council

P O Box 8

Gore 9740

Deliver to: Gore District Council, 10C Ardwick Street, Gore