Adventure playground falls victim to cuts
19 January 2012
Kilburn Grange Park Adventure Playground is one of six council- funded play projects in Camden which will close in March, the council has confirmed. The playground, designed by award-winning designers Erect architecture, only opened in 2010 and has been hugely popular with children.
Four transitions play services which cater for children between the ages of 8-13 years and support them to move between play and youth provision will also close, along with Camden's temporary accommodation play project.
A report outlining the future for Camden's play service was presented to the council's cabinet on 18 January. It confirmed that along with the closure of all council-run projects, the council's in house play service will cease to exist from the end of August. A new service to be commissioned from the voluntary and community sector will operate on a vastly reduced budget of £1.5m (down from £4.3m) and be refocused on:
* Meeting the needs of more vulnerable children such as those with disabilities
* Providing help for working parents on lower incomes
* Providing high quality, low cost childcare and play
* Involving the community in running services
This service will start in September 2012, immediately after the current service finishes at the end of August.
The report also recommends cabinet agree an allocation of £0.25m from the Camden people's fund to support local voluntary and community organisations to establish an independent play association that will assist with developing childcare services.
Camden Council Cabinet member for children, schools and families, Councillor Larraine Revah, said,
"We have had to make some difficult decisions in this financial climate and we just couldn't afford to keep the play service running as it was. We consulted with as many service users as we could and we will be working with community-run organisations to put together the best possible offer for services.
We know that children from low-income working families rely on the play service to help them keep working and we want to make sure that this is protected as far as possible."
