New Tymon Park playground expected to be open by Easter

New Tymon Park playground expected to be open by Easter

By Mary Dennehy

A SAFETY inspection on the new playground at Tymon Park is expected to be carried out this week, with council officials hopeful that the facility will be open in time for the Easter holidays.

The natural playground was due to swing into action at the end of March however, construction work has been delayed by three weeks due to heavy rainfall and the late arrival of equipment from Germany and the Czech Republic.

Tymon Park new playground 30032017

The Tymon North-end of the park has been without a playground since early 2010, when the original, 20-year-old timber playground with its famous giant slide, was decommissioned due to health and safety concerns.

The delivery of the much-needed playground was plagued by continuous delays over the years, a situation which frustrated residents and resulted in the creation of a community campaign called, The Vanished Playground – which lobbied for the return of the playground to the busy park.

However, it’s been all systems-go in the past week, with council staff on site carrying out tree planting work in preparation for the park’s opening in mid-April.

In council chambers on Monday, Tallaght Central Fianna Fail councillor Charlie O’ Connor asked the council to give assurances surrounding the supervision of the site – amid concerns raised by members of the community about potential vandalism and anti-social behaviour on site.

Responding the council said: “Throughout the build it was remarkable that there were no problems of encroachment or vandalism on site.

“On virtually every site it is expected that children may try to enter the site and play there in the evenings. This has not happened in Tymon. 

“It is believed that the reason for this is the chosen location in the park.

“There is also no history of anti-social activity at this location.

“The playground is located in the most public part of the park, directly beside the Park Rangers Offices and very close to the Caretaker apartments.”

The council added how all of the equipment has been chosen for its robustness, with the area being designed “as much as possible” to eliminate hidden areas in the playground.

The materials also used in natural playspaces, such as grass, sand and woodchip, are also less susceptible to vandalism than harder surfaces.

“We believe that all of these measures combined will ensure that the playground will be adequately supervised and will serve the needs of the children of the area for many years to come”, the council said.

“The playground is starting to look really impressive…there is huge anticipation locally about the playground and there are onlookers admiring the works and taking photos there right throughout the day.”

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