Ribbon cutting ceremony celebrates reopening of Battersea Park’s toddlers and junior playground after £250k upgrade

The council’s environment spokesman Cllr Steffi Sutters took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony to formally declare the new-look playground reopen after major investment in its play equipment.

The popular playground’s exciting and challenging new play equipment was chosen by local families and young children last year in a public consultation. Families had three blueprints to choose from and the final result was so close that the most popular elements of the two most favoured schemes were incorporated into the final design.

Ninety per cent of those people who took part in the consultation live close to Battersea Park and are regular visitors to the playground.

The busy play area has designated space for toddlers and children under the age of eight and a separate junior section for slightly older children. Adjacent to both is Battersea Park’s separate adventure playground which is also designed for children aged eight and above.

This latest refurbishment project brings the council’s investment in childrens’ play areas across Wandsworth to more than £1m over the past three years.

It forms part of an £8m spend on local initiatives over the past three years including schemes to support safer communities, employment opportunities for young people, better pavements and improved parks and playgrounds. These have been paid for using the Wandsworth Local Fund (WLF) which comprises money the council has levied on developers to help pay for community and local neighbourhood infrastructure improvements across the borough.

Cllr Sutters said: “I was absolutely thrilled to cut the ribbon to officially reopen this wonderful children’s playground in Battersea Park.

“It has benefited from a comprehensive and significant upgrade of its play equipment at one of the borough’s busiest and most popular play areas.

“I’m delighted that we were able to adjust the plans slightly so that we could incorporate so many of the exciting features that local families told us they wanted included. I’ve no doubt at all that this will prove to be a really busy and well used play area and that young children in the area will enjoy spending lots of time there.”