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Dunedin eyes three new ‘destination’ playgrounds

Hamish McNeilly

A trio of ‘‘destination’’ children’s playgrounds, similar to Christchurch’s Margaret Mahy playground, could be built in Dunedin.

Dunedin City Council will meet next week – via audio-visual link – to debate options as part of its draft plan as it tries to keep a 6.5 per cent rate rise for 2022/23.

In May last year, the council decided to support, in principle, the development of a new destination children’s playground.

A consultant was commissioned to assess Dunedin’s current play spaces – defined as having playground amenities and supporting infrastructure – and to provide examples of other relevant New Zealand destination play spaces.

Marlow Park, Woodhaugh Gardens and Mosgiel Memorial Gardens were identified as the parks that best fitted the definition of a destination play space, but all had some deficiencies.

Marlow Park, more commonly known as ‘‘the Dinosaur Park’’, was considered old and outdated compared with modern standards, while lacking equipment for older children.

Woodhaugh Gardens had a lack of allweather surfaces, while Mosgiel Memorial Park had an inefficient use of space.

A new destination would require a larger financial investment and that was not recommended.

The report noted that Christchurch’s Margaret Mahy play space was completed in 2015 at a cost of $4 million, while Auckland’s Kopupaka play space, which opened last year, cost $6m.

The council was presented with three options, including either using a new greenfields site, making one destination playground, or investing in all three current destination play spaces.

That last option would result in each major city catchment area receiving investment in a destination play space.

The council’s current 10-year plan includes budgets for minor renewal and upgrade work at each of the three destination play spaces.

To raise the quality of the facilities to an appropriate standard, the report estimated a capital investment of $4m to $6m spread across them would be required.

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2022-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

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