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Council votes to make play parks more accessible

Patrick Hughes
BBC News, Hampshire
BBC A piece of play park equipment - a spring rider - it is bright green and has two seats. The rest of the park can be seen in the background, with dark clouds overhead. BBC
Campaigners say one of the biggest obstacles facing disabled children and parents in playparks is the woodchip flooring

Play parks in Portsmouth could become more disability-friendly after city councillors voted to draw up plans and find funding for accessibility upgrades.

It comes after months of campaigning by mum Sophie, whose daughter Millie is a wheelchair user.

Sophie said changes were "desperately needed" and accessibility in Portsmouth parks was currently "basically non-existent".

The city council said in a statement: "We are absolutely committed to continuing to explore every opportunity to ensure that our play parks are as accessible and inclusive as possible.

Many of the council's 124 parks contain at least one piece of inclusive equipment, such as adapted swing sets, trampolines and wheelchair-friendly roundabouts, the council said.

A picture of Sophie's daughter Millie. She is in a wheelchair and wearing a yellow raincoat, with purple-pink glasses. She has blonde hair.
Sophie told BBC South her daughter Millie, pictured, wanted to be able to do everything her friends could do at the park

But Sophie said despite new equipment being added, children like her daughter still were not able to physically access it because of the woodchip flooring.

"Pretty much all of the Portsmouth parks are on woodchip," she said. "So, for wheelchair users, or those that use walkers - they can't get to that equipment."

Woodchip is not wheelchair friendly due the loose, uneven surface, and government guidance states that it should not be used for accessible surfaces.

"They've spent a lot of money, but haven't done a particularly good job," she said.

"Portsmouth City Council need to start holding their own public consultations before they spend money on making mistakes."

A picture of Sophie from the neck up looking into the lens. She has brown-blonde hair. The background is out of focus but a children's play park can be made out.
Sophie said she wanted to see the city council carry out its own public consultations when designing or upgrading parks

Labour councillor Charlotte Gerada tabled the motion after meeting with Sophie.

She said she had heard from many other families facing the same barriers and wanted the council to push up its standards.

But she said replacing the woodchip could be "very costly", and they were not expecting every single park in the city to be made accessible due to a lack of council resources.

"We understand it's expensive to put a playpark in and equipment isn't cheap, when new equipment is being rolled out or new parks are being put in, inclusive design should be at the heart of it," she said.

Charlotte Gerada waering a red top, in front of a play park
Labour councillor Charlotte Gerada said Portsmouth still had "minimal" accessible equipment compared to its neighbours

At the council meeting, Ms Gerada said the council had consulted play experts - specialist council officers - about the parks' equipment.

"But the play experts are children," she said.

"Other nearby towns like Fareham and Havant do have much more accessible playparks.

"There's still very little, minimal, equipment in Portsmouth."

A city council spokesperson said: "Over the past two decades, Portsmouth's play spaces have been transformed, with more diverse and inclusive equipment, despite no central government funding being made available for the past 16 years."

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