Herne Bay's Memorial Park play area is open again after a £300,000 rebuild, with a wheelchair swing, seesaw and sensory zone. Three more play areas are next.

The Memorial Park play area in Herne Bay is open again. Canterbury City Council says its £300,000 rebuild is finished, and the playground is now built so that disabled children can play alongside everyone else.

The council announced the reopening on Friday 16 October. The play area is at the junction of King’s Road and Dering Road. The council had planned to close it from 24 August and finish in early October, so the work ran a little later than planned. It is still open in time for the Kent half term, which starts on 26 October.

What is there now

The site has been extended, and the new equipment sits alongside pieces installed in 2023. The council lists:

  • a fully accessible wheelchair swing, which needs a radar-type key to open
  • a fully accessible wheelchair seesaw
  • an accessible sand pit
  • a sensory play zone and a calm play zone
  • dynamic play equipment
  • shaded seating
  • signs in British Sign Language and Braille

The equipment was installed by the play company Hags. The council designed the scheme with SNAAP, the Special Needs Advisory and Activities Project, and consulted parents, carers, children and young people with additional needs and disabilities.

The Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Cllr Alister Brady, cut the ribbon with families and local councillors.

Cllr Mel Dawkins, the council’s cabinet member for play areas, said the playground had been “completely transformed” and was “packed with families for the reopening event”. Cllr Dawkins added: “This play area is now one of our best in the district and we’re sure it’s going to be very well used for years to come.”

Who paid

The £300,000 came from the council’s own capital budget and from Section 106 contributions. That is money developers pay towards local facilities as a condition of planning permission, in this case from housing schemes in Herne Bay.

Three more Herne Bay play areas are next

The council won £270,000 from the government’s Playground Fund in September to rebuild three more Herne Bay play areas. It says the work will happen “in the coming months”. The sites are:

  • the seafront play area on Central Parade
  • Collins Road, Greenhill
  • Honeysuckle Way, Broomfield

The council has not yet given dates. Our report on the Playground Fund award explains why Herne Bay was chosen.

What it means for you

The playground is open now, in time for half term. If your child uses a wheelchair, bring a radar key for the accessible swing: it is the same key that opens accessible public toilets. Everything else is open access.

For the rest of the week off, see our October half term guide. We first reported the closure and what was planned in August.