£40k treasure trove stowed away for Boston parks

A treasure chest of £40,000 has been locked away as councillors look to dig deeper into a £127,000 wish list which includes pirate ship-themed play equipment.

While councillors at Boston Town Area Committee didn’t send the feature to Davy Jones’ locker, they criticised a lack of depth in the report.

Councillor Nigel Welton, said he felt more work could have been done by a council sub-group to consult, get more detail and narrow down the options before coming to the committee – particularly only a few months before election season.

“This is raising people’s expectations of what we are going to be doing when we might not be here next year,” he said.

Central Park, Boston

The pirate ship is only one item on the wish list put before the committee.

Another major feature, an Octopus see-saw was also floated onto the list.

Councillor Martin Griggs told councillors the list had been created from consultation with residents by council officers.

He said the committee needed to decide how much it would put aside out of its budget – including what was unspent from the year – and added that he would have been willing to put all the spare money into paying for the list if he could

Examples of the equipment shared with councillors at the BTAC meeting.

Councillor Anton Dani asked why Fenside had nothing on the list and accused the council of “forgetting” the ward.

After being reminded there were no BTAC parks in the area he commented: “we could create something.”

Councillor Paul Gleeson praised the work already done adding that parks had gone from being ok to getting better.

“There’s a drive to continue to do that,” he said.

He proposed the £40k was put aside from the committee’s underspend towards open space improvement.

Woodville Road play park, where the pirate ship and octopus see-saw a listed for.

This is the wishlist in full:

Woodville Road

• 4m high Climbing Net
• Steel Cableway
• Play Panels
• Nest Swing
• Octopus See-saw
• Junior Pirate Ship Unit (provisional grant of £19,000 from Boston Big Local to be confirmed in April).
  Total: £54,000

St Johns

• High Slide
• Musical Play Panels
• Steel Cableway
• Goal Posts
• Total: £19,000

Burgess pit

• Dome Climbing Net
• Steel Cableway
• Larger Hoop on existing basketball hoop
• Nets in goals – “metal to avoid them being stolen”
• Total: £40,000

Sheltons Field

• Higher Slide
• Play House with floors
• Crazy Scrambler Springer
• Total: £13,000

Central Park

•  Alterations to the entrance gate to the play area to accommodate wheelchairs and double buggies
• Total: £300

Broadfield Lane

• Building contractors installing play equipment
• Total: Funded by S106 developer contribution of £60,000 so no initial cost to BTAC

Garfit’s Lane

• Multi Use Games Area Tender being prepared
• Total: Funded by S106 developer contribution of £73,000  so no initial cost to BTAC

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