The new list is an updated version of a 2023 council document. Photo: Hayley Nicholls.
Parks and playgrounds in the Queanbeyan area could be waiting a long time for some TLC, after they were ranked on a priority list.
At a recent meeting, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) voted to adopt an updated version of its Playground Upgrade Priority Ratings list.
Each playground was given a ranking based on an assessment of its equipment’s useful life, its usage, site condition (of equipment and safety surfacing) and age.
After the assessment, each playground was put into a renewal band, ranging from ‘Very High’ to ‘Very Low’, with each category having a deadline for the works.
“These timeframes provide a structured framework for capital works programming and long-term financial planning,” the report states.
“They are indicative and subject to change based on emerging safety risks, funding availability, or strategic shifts.”
Playgrounds in the Very High category – located at Captains Flat, Bicentennial Park South, Gracelands Park, Apex Park, Queanbeyan Town Park and Bicentennial Lookout – have been recommended for repairs or removal by 2030.
Councillor Katrina Willis said while she supported the “idea behind this policy”, there needed to be safeguards to make sure QPRC didn’t miss smaller scale repair work.
“I think council needs to be sure about the implications of this policy … I also want to make sure that, in trying to put our asset maintenance on a more regular and programmed arrangement, we don’t overlook the day-to-day [needs].”
She pushed for information on how the council would plan for the works.
“The report itself states that forecasting wear and tear beyond 10 years is difficult – so wouldn’t it make more sense for us to align this plan with the Long Term Financial Plan, because that’s the longest planning horizon we tend to use for determining resource allocation?”
In response, a staff member said councillors would revisit the maintenance budgets every four years.
They also said a separate system would manage sudden repairs that needed immediate work, pointing to the example of a broken gate in Googong that meant kids could leave a program and enter a nearby road.
“That was in maintenance that we needed to attend to quickly. … The maintenance budget that you see here is for much larger elements of maintenance.”
Under the priority list, five were sorted into the High category, 36 in the Medium category, 38 in the Low category and 10 in the Very Low category.
It also states that higher ranking was given to playgrounds in Queanbeyan (rather than rural areas), given their larger number of users.
But councillor Morgan Broadbent said the approach didn’t address how the priority report would sit alongside other QPRC strategic documents.
He called for more details about how the list would function alongside those documents.
“I should be clear that is not because I feel uncomfortable about the values or necessarily the priority ratings, but I’m uncertain about the mechanism (including the strategic plans) that will take carriage of these ratings into the future.
“It’s unclear to me through this motion, as to what strategic plan that rating sits within [that will be used] into the future, including with the next council.”
Councillor Mareeta Grundy called on her fellow councillors to make sure the playgrounds were treated as whole units, to make sure they had the resources users needed.
“For example, I’m aware that the Bungendore playground-slash-toilet facility doesn’t have a change table. That’s something simple, and it’s fallen through the net.
“How do we change things so that we have these magnificent new playgrounds, or upgraded playgrounds, and we also have adequate toilet facilities to match?”
A staff member said that toilet facilities would be assessed – and repair works carried out – under a different scheme, unless the site was classed as a destination playground.
The full Playground Upgrade Priority Ratings list is available in the meeting documents on the council’s website.
