New council report identifies areas in Fingal that need playgrounds

Anna Polaszek pushed a pram with a snoozing six-month-old into Hartstown Park on a drizzling September morning.

She was joined by Liz Kelly, a mother of two and childminder. Kelly was looking after a pair of boys, both around the age of five.

Her own kids are past the age of playground trips. But the duo marching in rings around her would love something like that, she said.

Residents in Hartstown and neighbouring Huntstown have waited for decades to see a playground on the doorstep, Kelly says. “I’ve been in Hartstown 20 years, and there has never been a playground I could walk to.”

The nearest playground is the Millennium Park in Coolmine, she says.

Hartstown Park covers about 61 acres. It’s huge, Polaszek says, who had just walked from her home on the northern side of the park to its southern entrance. “It took me 25 minutes to get here.”

It caters to Blakestown, Huntstown and Hartstown, and there are three primary schools in the area, she says.

There are a lot of facilities here, she says, with pitches, outdoor gym equipment, a basketball court and even a forest trail for older kids. “There’s play equipment for big kids. But there’s no playground for small kids.”

Council officials had asked councillors to hold off on pushing for a playground at Hartstown Park until they had mapped out playgrounds in Fingal – and assessed where they are most needed.

At council meetings this month, Gemma Carr, the council’s park and landscapes officer, showed that audit to councillors on two area committees – and, she said, will continue to roll it out to the others.

The audit found gaps, she said, in Loughshinny, Portrane, Oldtown, Hazelbury Park and, possibly, Hartstown Park.

In the next two years, there should be 30 more playgrounds built in the Fingal County Council area, whether by the council or private developers, said Carr at the meetings.

Of the nine that the council expects to build itself, seven are earmarked for the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart-Castleknock-Ongar local electoral area, her presentation said.

What does the audit say?

Fingal’s play policy says the council has to make sure its play spaces are spread equally across the county, said Carr, the council’s park and landscapes officer at a meeting on 6 December.

Countywide, there are 60 playgrounds that have been “taken in charge” – in other words, which are managed by – the council. And another 46 playgrounds that haven’t been taken in charge.

Meanwhile, Fingal County Council has nine more playgrounds planned itself, and expects 21 more to be delivered as part of private developments over the next two years, said Carr.

That number is rising as more planning applications go in, she says. “I could do this next month, and have a different figure.”

Carr is doing the rounds of local area committee meetings, presenting what the state of play is in different bits of Fingal.

At the moment, the local electoral area of Howth-Malahide is the best served in Fingal, she told councillors for that area.

Still, Howth-Malahide area is expected to see eight new playgrounds delivered as part of private developments, she said.

“That will be delivered within the next two years, or I expect to be delivered within the next two years through planning, and that’s from being on site meeting developers.”

Based on the audit, Carr said she didn’t think that Sutton should be prioritised at the moment for playground, despite some requests.

As part of the redevelopment of Howth Harbour, its existing playground is also set to be upgraded in 2024, with the redesign on a nautical theme, she said.

At the Howth-Malahide meeting, Fine Gael Councillor Anthony Lavin asked how quickly the eight playgrounds on the area’s list, but not yet built, will exist.

Take the Seamount Hill playground, he said, is that included? “There are other places that are notional and may take years to be delivered.”

Carr said she was being conservative in her timelines. “I’m expecting these playgrounds to be on the ground next year, but I gave myself two years, just for any hiccups.”

Construction workers have said that they will be on the ground in Seamount Hill next February, she said.

Need and lobbying

While Fingal County Council doesn’t expect to build any more playgrounds itself in Howth-Malahide in the next two years, it does in Dublin 15 where the audit found more gaps.

The council has 16 playgrounds in the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart-Castleknock- Ongar local electoral area, says the audit. Another 22 playgrounds were built as part of private developments and “not in charge”.

In the next two years, the council plans to build seven itself in this electoral area, said Carr at a meeting of those councillors on 7 December. A further four are expected to be delivered by developers, she said.

Carr said the council’s planned play facilities in Laurel Lodge and Corduff Park are out for public consultation. The council has started to build a playground at Lanesborough.

Carr also shared the assessment of a playground at Hartstown Park.

There are playgrounds already that are accessible from that area, she said. “But if there was a playground there it would cover even more of that blank area of your area there,” she said, pointing to a gap north of there.

The audit said, therefore, that it was a “possible location for a new play space”.

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said on Tuesday evening that Hartstown Park is a large neighbourhood park. “The appropriate type of playground for such a park is a Neighbourhood Equipped Area for Play (NEAP).”

According to the council’s play policy, A Space For Play, a NEAP is a play facility in an urban neighbourhood park and is located within ten minutes walking distance of homes.

A site survey will be undertaken in early 2024 to identify the possible locations for a playground in the park, the spokesperson said.

But, it would need environmental assessments and planning approval so they couldn’t say how long the project will take, they said.

It was good to see that highlighted as a possible playground, said Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Donnelly at the meeting. But she would like to see more certainty about it, she said.

“I would like to see Hartstown playground being more of a possibility,” she said, “and it being a case of: we will be getting a playground in Hartstown Park obviously when all of the necessary Part 8 and funding stream is in place.”

Donnelly had submitted a motion in September 2022 to the committee, asking the chief executive to report on any plans and a timeframe for a playground in Hartstown Park.

Council officials asked Donnelly to wait until the play audit was done. Last month, Donnelly tabled a motion to push for a playground, which was supported by the area committee councillors.

The audit is telling the council which places in particular are in need, Carr said, like the Hazelbury-Littlepace area. “And Hartstown, I believe, is in need of a playground.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Howard Mahony said he was concerned about how Carr had said the council determines whether there is demand for a playground.

She had looked at councillors’ motions to area committee meetings, and cross-checked these against the map of playgrounds.

But “how about the poor people who don’t have access, who don’t realise that if you contact your councillor or enough councillors, you may just get a playground?” he asked.

That should not be a consideration at all, he said. “It should be need, rather than representations by us.”

Fine Gael Councillor Kieran Dennison said he had held off on making representations around playgrounds for a year because the audit was being completed.

Ultimately, where playgrounds go should be based on need and where the gaps are, he said.

He asked if census data had been taken into account, and where there are lots of kids. “We have to give a lot of weight to playground facilities for toddlers and preschoolers. I think that’s where most of the demand comes from.”

Said Carr: “I have to be honest we are very dependent on local councillors to tell us what people want. I can see a gap for example in the Castleknock area, but I’m not getting any real requests.”

Before they grow any older

Polaszek, strolling Hartstown Park in September, said she had lived in the area for five years.

She had been onto councillors repeatedly, asking for a play park for younger children, she said.

Overall, there isn’t a lack of facilities in the park, she said. “The one thing that is really missing is a playground. Young children are the age group that really don’t have anything.”

Polaszek paused, while trudging through the park’s wet grass. She let out a little laugh.

In the distance, she had spotted a mother letting her young daughter swing from what looked kind of like monkey bars.

“I just hope that by the time my newborn grows up a little, there’ll be a playground here,” she said.