Mayor of Newbury opens new inclusive playground in town park

A new play area, which contains a variety of inclusive equipment, has opened in a Newbury park.

Mayor of Newbury Gary Norman was joined by dozens of John Rankin schoolchildren to officially open the new playground in Fifth Road Park.

Funded by Newbury Town Council, the playground has had an extensive makeover with new play equipment being built and existing equipment being refurbished as well.

New equipment in the park includes a bespoke farmyard inclusive unit, inclusive dolly seat, seesaw, toddler springer, farmyard themed play area, inclusive swirl-whirl spinner and Lillie swing.

All the inclusive equipment is accessible to able and less abled children alike.

There is also a play trail which offers an advanced trail experience for older children but can still be enjoyed by younger ones with supervision.

Chair of the council’s community services committee Sarah Slack said: “As part of the town council’s strategy, we are committed to ensuring safety and quality in our playgrounds and parks.

“This includes a long-term rolling plan for the refurbishment and replacement of our playground and other park equipment when it reaches the end of its useful life.

“I am delighted that the Fifth Road play area is now complete – it will be great fun for the local children to explore and have this resource on their doorstep.

“This innovative range of equipment is designed with both fun and safety in mind and has a lot of new inclusive equipment so everyone can have fun.”

The new area was officially opened on Thursday, January 19.