Brand new play area for Gun Park, Eastry

Eastry Parish Council is delighted to announce the official opening of the brand-new play area at much loved Gun Park, Eastry. The new play equipment has been welcomed by local children and their parents, it replaces and upgrades the run-down roundabout and the tired climbing frame which have both been removed.

Eastry Parish Council’s (EPC) Vice Chair Deborah Russell and EPC Clerk Joanna Jones managed a competitive tender process which involved seven companies responding to a detailed brief. Eastry Parish Council ranked the bids according to each company’s ideas, their track record of delivering play areas and importantly cost. Local residents and children from Eastry Primary School adjacent to Gun Park, were invited to review the top three designs at the Village Hall in December 2022 and the designs were taken into the Primary School and every child voted for their favourite design

The total cost of the new play park including the design and construction cost was £72,000. This consisted of £57,400 from Eastry Parish Council, £10,000 from the National Lottery Fund and £4600 from Section 106 funding from the Shemara Farm local housing development. Kompan installed the new play area in the first three weeks of February 2023.

Eastry Parish Council Chair, Mark Jones, said “It’s great to see such an exciting new play area with brand new equipment for children of different ages and abilities. I am particularly pleased that we were able to install paths to link the equipment to make it easier for wheelchairs and pushchairs as well as inclusive pieces of play equipment all within our budget.

Eastry Parish Councillor Deborah Russell said, “I am really pleased with the updated play area, it has taken two years for it to come to fruition, so it is great to see village children and their families enjoying the new equipment. We have gone from a rather sad, dilapidated playground into an inclusive, colourful, and stimulating play area! I am proud that Eastry Parish Council voted unanimously to improve and update the play area for our local children. And we did this quickly within budget.”

For further information or to arrange an interview with Mark Jones or Deborah Russell please contact EPC Clerk Jo Jones 07903 739792 clerk@eastry-pc.gov.uk