Introduction
We are a group of six 'mums' of village children who recognised the need to refurbish the existing playground site adjacent to the village school. The playground has been in existence in excess of 25 years but over recent years all but two pieces of equipment have been removed and not replaced due to safety reasons with the end result that children now play in the streets and meet at the local bus stop. This obviously raises safety issues. As this is the only open space available to village children it is imperative that we maintain this site and ensure its viability as a playground. Furthermore, providing this facility as a community focal point will enable more children, young people and their carers to have access to opportunities for healthy exercise, socialising and community involvement.

Four years ago the Harbertonford Playground Committee was formed with the sole purpose of raising funds to refurbish the playground site. As the land is owned by the Exeter Diocese, permission had to be sought. Unfortunately a four year battle ensued to try and persuade the Diocese to give our Committee a licence to manage the playground as had happened in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, due to legislative changes the Diocese would only agree to issue a lease to Harberton Parish Council. Consultation with the Parish Council resulted in them taking on the lease as trustees only on the premise that the Harbertonford Playground Association would be responsible for the refurbishment of the playground site. This was agreed and included in the lease (see attached copy of lease).

Harbertonford Playground Committee is an unincorporated association with its own constitution, bank account and management committee. In the event of its demise, all monies and management of the playground will become the responsibility of Harberton Parish Council.

Consultation
All villagers are invited to our widely publicised Annual General Meetings during which the South Hams District Council’s Leisure and Parks Manger has been in attendance to offer help, advice and answer questions re the planning and refurbishment processes. Invitation to comment on the scheme has also been advertised in the Village Life which is distributed to all villagers once monthly. The project is also advertised on our village website.

As a result of these consultative meetings it was decided to:

• 1) Erect steel equipment as opposed to wooden equipment to deter vandalism.
• 2) Install continuous wet pour safety matting rather than wood chip, etc as this again would stand the test of time and deter vandalism. In addition, a continuous wet pour surface was felt more suitable as water drainage is poor on site resulting in very boggy and water logged land during the winter months. The wet pour surface will, therefore, increase its playability in all weathers and all year round.
• 3) Purchase and install one piece of equipment at a time as the funding becomes available so that children have equipment to play on as soon as possible.

An important part of the consultation process was to talk to and consult the village children. As most of the children attend the village school we enlisted the support of its head teacher who kindly handed out and helped the children complete questionnaires to find out what sort of equipment they wanted in the playground. The results of this clearly showed that the children wanted traditional playground equipment as opposed to an adventure playground. The order of priority was also determined.

Over the past four years village fund raising, with the total support of villagers, has amassed £2,536.60 with further fund raising activities planned for the summer during which it is hoped to raise a further £1,000. We have the full support of the village school governors and Harberton Parish Council (see attached letter) who have themselves donated £1,000 over the next two years to the project. A village individual has also promised £500 and village children have raised £100 themselves in support of the project.

Isolation, Disadvantage and Access
As a rural village children have limited access to public amenities that the nearest town, Totnes, offers some five miles away. There are no other open spaces in the village where children can expend their energy safely. Whilst public transport is acceptable (at most) during the summer months, during winter the local bus service is limited isolating most of its children and ensuring that they are dependent upon adults to transport them to the nearest town to access leisure amenities. Those without cars are stranded – excluded. This places our village children at a disadvantage.

Health and Safety
With the demise of the playground children have gradually migrated out onto the streets in search of stimulating activities. Youngsters are seen playing in the roads and often causing nuisances to both drivers and pedestrians, causing conflict for no other reason than they are bored. More importantly, however, this has obvious safety implications. Children are at risk of being knocked down by passing vehicles who often travel at far too fast a speed when travelling through the village. Indeed we have had two children knocked down over the past year though, fortunately, without serious injury. It is hoped that the playground refurbishment will once again attract the children to a safe, stimulating play and meeting location. Furthermore, children are mostly unsupervised whilst playing in the roads and around the village streets and are open to abuse. Children in the playground are overlooked by houses and their occupants and whilst they may not be directly supervised by an adult, local villagers regularly use the playground as a thoroughfare to the school thus providing some fairly regular level of adult observation.

With the demise of the playground access to opportunities for physical activity has become difficult because of distance and the village children’s health will suffer. Obesity in children nation wide is on the increase. Providing a play facility will enable village children to once again walk to the playground and be healthy. Furthermore providing a meeting place for children and their families will encourage social interaction and allow greater time for family life to prosper.

The site is insured by Harberton Parish Council and the equipment is regularly inspected and maintained (a report is sent to the Parish Council) by the Leisure and Parks Department at South Hams District Council who also insure the equipment itself.

Bullying and Harassment
When planning the site and the placing of equipment, it was considered important to ensure that equipment for younger users was separated from the equipment for older users to ensure that the younger children felt safe playing in their own environment.

The site has two access/exit points neither of which are close to a main road thus ensuring that children have means of escape if needed.

A child protection policy has been drawn up (see attached) stating the action to be taken in the event of such activities coming to the attention of the Committee. Two members of the Committee have clean, up to date police Criminal Record Bureau checks.

Volunteers in the village will be asked to regularly make observations of the playground and its users to ensure any bullying or harassment is reported.

Equal Opportunities
The playground site as it currently stands effectively prevents any disabled wheelchair user and indeed baby buggies from using the site as access is very poor. Both entrances to the park are very uneven, rocky and, in wet weather, extremely muddy and slippery. It is planned to tarmac both these access points and to create a path throughout the park and to all pieces of equipment thus promoting easy access for disabled users and baby buggies.

In choosing the type of equipment to be installed, the needs of disabled users were considered. As a result some pieces of equipment are suitable for disabled users and the picnic table has an extension to enable a wheelchair to slide underneath.

Environment
Volunteers have already been recruited to clear the site of debris and to cut back overgrowth and trees.

It is hoped to plant out the two banks surrounding the park to provide a habitat for birds, insects and wildlife. Village children will be asked to volunteer to help with this activity, hopefully promoting a sense of ownership and appreciation of the site.

People have to drive to the nearest recreation and play facility five miles away wrecking someone else’s peace or polluting someone else’s air and emitting even more CO2. The provision of a local facility will reduce the amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere as car use will reduce.

Sustainability
The Committee considered the sustainability of the playground equipment, surfacing and secondary items when selecting a playground supplier. The playground equipment supplier chosen uses timber from forests with certified tree replacement programmes and recycled materials wherever possible in the manufacture of its products.

Cost of Equipment
All prices include the purchase of the equipment, surfacing and installation excluding VAT

• Roundabout £5,816
• See-saw £3,345
• Double flat swings £3,867
• Double cradle swings £3,584
• 2 toddler springers £2,625
• Basket ball goal £819
• Picnic table and bench £1,418
• removal of bases, tiles and improvement of access £2,702.75