Canterbury City Council is spending £300,000 to replace and expand the play area at Herne Bay Memorial Park with fully accessible and sensory equipment, 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 this autumn — Canterbury City Council is delivering a £300,000 overhaul of the existing site at the junction of King’s Road and Dering Road. Work starts Monday 24 August. The council anticipates it will be completed by early October.
The redesigned space keeps equipment installed in 2023 and adds a range of new features for children of all ages and abilities, including a fully accessible wheelchair swing opened with a radar-type key, a wheelchair seesaw, an accessible sand pit, a sensory play zone, a calm play zone, dynamic play areas, shaded seating, and signs in both British Sign Language and Braille. The site itself is being extended to fit it all in.
The council worked closely with the Special Needs Advisory and Activities Project (SNAAP) and consulted parents, carers, and children and young people with additional needs and disabilities to shape the design.
Cllr Mel Dawkins, 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 £300,000 comes from a mix of council capital funding and Section 106 contributions — the legally binding payments developers make as a condition of planning permission, drawn here from Herne Bay development schemes.
There is one snag. The play area shuts on 24 August and won’t reopen until early October, which means it’ll be closed for the final week of the school summer holidays. The council says the timing is down to the availability of specialist play equipment installers.
Key information
- Play area closes: Monday 24 August
- Expected reopening: Early October
- Location: Herne Bay Memorial Park, junction of King’s Road and Dering Road
- Total cost: £300,000, funded by council capital budget and Section 106 developer contributions
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