Canterbury City Council is extending the King’s Road and Dering Road play area with wheelchair-accessible equipment, sensory zones and BSL/Braille signage, with work starting 24 August and finishing by early October.
Families in Herne Bay are getting a bigger, more accessible play area at Memorial Park — though they’ll need to stay away from the King’s Road and Dering Road site for around six weeks while the work goes on. Canterbury City Council is set to begin the £300,000 project on Monday 24 August, closing the existing play area for safe construction. Completion is expected by early October.
The upgraded site will keep some equipment installed in 2023 and add new features for children of all ages and abilities. That includes a fully accessible wheelchair swing (a radar-type key is required to access it), a fully accessible wheelchair seesaw, an accessible sand pit, a sensory play zone, a calm play zone, dynamic play, shaded seating areas, and BSL/Braille signage throughout, among other additions.
The council worked with the Special Needs Advisory and Activities Project (SNAAP) during the design process, consulting parents, carers, children and young people with additional needs and disabilities directly. Cllr Mel Dawkins, the cabinet member for play areas, said: “This is such an exciting project and we can’t wait to get started on it. A lot of hard work has gone into making sure we have new play equipment that will truly be suitable for all. We’ve done our research and spoken to the experts to check we’ve got this spot on. This play area will be bigger and better than it’s ever been and will mean all children can play alongside each other and learn and socialise together. We can’t wait to see the end results in a couple of months’ time.”
The closure does fall across the final week of the school summer holidays. Unfortunate timing. But the council said it was unavoidable — the specialist play equipment installers weren’t available any earlier.
Funding comes from two sources: council capital funding and Section 106 developer contributions, the money paid by developers as a condition of planning permission. In this case, contributions came from Herne Bay development schemes.
Key information
- Site closed from: Monday 24 August
- Expected reopening: early October
- Location: Memorial Park play area, junction of King’s Road and Dering Road, Herne Bay
Herne Bay Memorial Park play area gets £300,000 inclusive upgrade Quiz
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