I’ve been chasing up the Council’s Play Services Department, to get an update on the Adventure Playground in Peckham Rye Park, which seems to have been left half-finished for months.Phase One was completed in July, this included the demolition and removal of the old play structures, the building of the new ‘American Swing’ ( large swing with circular platform ), the refurbishment of two existing timber play structures ( for medium-term usage while the new site is developed ) and the levelling and re-turfing of the open grass area. Work on site was then suspended, to allow for the facility to be fully open to the public, through the busy summer programme. New access gates were installed in September.Phase Two of the external play structure building started last week and during the next 6/7 weeks a number of new features will be constructed, including a tyre swing, large border swing, nest swing, aerial runway, walkways and finishing the ‘assault’ course.

The work has been linked with this years Cleaner, Greener, Safer programme to facilitate the relocation of the two container units. The larger unit will be positioned in the vacant triangle, next to the play building and will be used by Southwark Carrib FC. The facility and/or building can be hired for community use and appropriate child based activities, eg birthday parties, training sessions, local events, etc. And from next year, Lottery funding will enable the Play Services Dept, to offer a closed access session for children with disabilities, similar to the pilot project which is currently being delivered at Spa Gardens AP.

So it sounds like it’ll be worth the wait – when finished it will another great asset for Peckham Rye Park. I’m amazed at how many fantastic areas Peckham Rye Park and Common packs in nowadays – it’s a real tardis of a park. It’s great that the council is creating another new space for community groups to use too. The transformation of the Park over the last few years has been amazing, and it’s a credit to the money the Liberal Democrats have invested in it after the years of neglect by Labour.