About a hundred locals joined Papakura Local Board members to officially open a refurbished park at Takanini’s Clarice Place, featuring a basketball half-court, a range of play equipment, and green play spaces.
The board is on something of a run, with a refurbished park opening last year at Cliff Road, and another at Berwyn Avenue in Takanini in September.
Another renewed playground at Cross Street in Papakura opens on December 1.
Board chair Brent Catchpole says local parks are important because they keep children safe and occupied in their own neighbourhoods.
“Families expect that their children should have access to play spaces within easy reach, and the board is working hard to make that happen.”
Manurewa-Papakura Auckland Council ward representatives Angela Dalton and Daniel Newman joined board members at the opening.
“It’s great to talk to locals and see them excited to have the park looking better than ever and open again,” Cr Newman says.
The park’s redevelopment was guided by extensive community input into what residents and their children wanted in their play space.
Many of the children at the opening even picked up paintbrushes to paint the bollards that protect the play space from traffic orange and black, the colour theme used in the park.
“The kids are certainly some of the most enthusiastic painters I’ve seen,” board deputy chair Jan Robinson says.
“It’s great to see them connected to the park by their own labour.”
