Following community engagement events held at the reserves located at Warri Reserve in Narraweena and Cross Street Reserve in Balgowlah Council will be proceeding with improvements within both reserves.

Maintenance works at Cross St Reserve have commenced on the northern side of the park to the pathway and vegetation

Playground works including pathways and ancillary landscaping at both of the parks will commence late January 2019.

Thank you for your patience.

During the engagement period, residents told us that safety and security are big issues in this reserve. The ideas were that new equipment should be open so that people can’t hide in it and that new equipment should be centrally located in the reserve, away from the reserve boundaries. People also said that they value the large open space of the reserve for free play. There were also concerns about run off from the play surface contributing to overland flow of stormwater.

In response, we have come up with a design that locates equipment in the centre of the reserve, but preserves the large open spaces that people value. The equipment was chosen to minimise enclosed spaces. In terms of stormwater runoff, the project is designed to have a small surface area with landscaping and drainage to minimise stormwater runoff. We’ve chosen a combination of rubber and mulch soft fall under the equipment for safety reasons.

The concept plan for the reserve is under development and will include:

During the engagement period people spoke to us about enclosing the playground with a safety fence and this has now been added to the project scope. We originally planned to move the swings closer to the rest of the equipment, however we did receive feedback that people preferred them to stay where they are. The swings will remain in situ with new softfall underneath them. They will be outside the fenced area because of space restrictions with the new fence and pathway connections.

Inside the fenced area, the old timber rocker will be removed and replaced with a new challenging climbing frame and toddler rocker. The new equipment is in response to requests during public engagement that the equipment accommodate children of a variety of ages with more challenge for older kids. There will also be new furniture within the fenced area allowing people to sit comfortably whilst watching the children play. The slide and the boat, which people said they really like at the park, will remain.

The concept plan for the reserve is under development and will include:

You may have noticed that maintenance works to the pathways and gardens commenced in September 2018.

Council would like to thank the local community for their fantastic input (and in particular those dwelling in social housing) in development of plans to implement the features of the grants.