Published on Thursday 04 December 2025
Play spaces are being put back at the heart of communities, with BCP Council’s green spaces team hard at work in recent months – and even bigger things set to come in 2026.
The team has been prioritising immediate repairs and improvements across a network of 120 play spaces – from replacement steps at Haskells Rec and a new swing at Green Road in Poole, to an improved slide in Littlemoor Avenue and brand new skate play equipment at Moordown. This work will continue over the coming months to bring new life to as many play spaces as quickly as possible.
As part of the Council’s Plan for Play consultation, officers hosted a dozen face to face engagement events at play spaces – asking families, children and young people to directly influence our plans.
Through the in-person meetings, and the broader consultation, our team were met with passion and an abundance of ideas from the community as to how to make play spaces fit for future generations.
This has helped the team to develop plans that ensure refurbishments deliver on community priorities and provide high-quality, inclusive and accessible play spaces to residents across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
Feedback has also led to two ‘Friends of’ groups being created – one at Mallard Road and one at Haskells Rec – that will enable residents to get more directly involved and work alongside the Council to support and facilitate further improvement works.
One of the spaces where community involvement has helped to shape proposals is Mallard Road, near Castlepoint, which is now being proposed for a £120,000 refurbishment thanks to additional funding from BCP Homes, as well as improvements at Anchor Close and Hasler Road.
Cllr Andy Hadley, portfolio holder with responsibility for parks and gardens at BCP Council, said: “This investment demonstrates the commitment we made to residents throughout our consultation – to deliver on their vision for community greenspaces; we’re now able to deliver even more improvements having received extra funding from other sources.
“Our team is already hard at work making sure local communities have play spaces they can be proud of – and they will continue to implement improvements and repairs to more than 100 sites where more major work is not required.”
Cllr Sandra Moore, portfolio holder with responsibility for Play Strategy at BCP Council, added: “Residents were concerned in the summer that a decision had already been made to close Mallard Road permanently. However, the reality is we wanted to hear first-hand from residents about how they wanted the space to look going forwards and we are now delivering on that.
“This is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when the Council collaborates with passionate communities and ward councillors and we’re keen to explore even more avenues for community involvement, grant funding, or external contributions that increase the number of sites we can improve.”
BCP Council’s Plan for Play is one of the first multi-year multi-million pound play strategies in the south west; with improvements taking place at more than 120 play spaces in the BCP-area.
20 sites have been earmarked for major refurbishment – enabling full-scale replacement and improvement of existing equipment: this includes King’s Park, Hamworthy Park, Noyce Gardens and Winton Rec. Work on these sites will get underway as soon as possible in 2026.
The first completed major refurbishment saw Queen’s Park brought back into life earlier this year – with a new fort, swings and access ramp boosting the quality of play and accessibility for children and young people.