Increasing playground maintenance costs highlighted

BILL Over €325K spent over six years

Cavan County Council has spent €325,378 over the past six years on the upkeep of the county’s 34 playgrounds.

Councillors in the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District were updated on ongoing works and upcoming projects at their December meeting.

In his presentation to councillors, executive engineer Thomas Carty said the county is “well served” by playgrounds, with 27 in the council’s ownership and a further seven sites that the local authority is responsible for the maintenance and insurance of.

He said Cavan has seen its number of playgrounds rise from just two in 2004 to the current 34.

However, the cost of maintaining the sites has proven a challenge, with vandalism leading to increased costs and, in one case, the removal of a playground altogether. Mr Carty said the facility in Ardkeen in Cavan Town was “decommissioned” due to serious vandalism in recent years, with incidents also reported in Ballyconnell, Mullagh and at Con Smith Park in Cavan Town.

The cost of upkeep of the playgrounds is proving a challenge for the council. Mr Carty said the prices for construction materials have increased by “15 to 20%”, with “no grants for general maintenance, just new playgrounds or for a major refurbishment”.

Figures given at the meeting showed over €325,000 has been spent on the upkeep of playgrounds since 2016. The amount spent varies from €38,715 in 2016 to the planned spend of €89,013 this year.

Works to upgrade a number of sites, in Ballyjamesduff, Kingscourt, Con Smith Park in Cavan Town, Belturbet, Cootehill and Killeshandra, are expected to begin in March. The County Council issued a tender at the end of November for works that will see surfaces replaced and landscaping carried out. Funding of €259,380 has been secured through grants from Clár, the Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Sáintecare and Dormant Accounts.

Councillors were united in their support of the work being done by council staff, with some saying members of the public are often unaware of the effort needed to provide the facilities. “Thank you for the work you are doing,” said Cllr Shane P O’Reilly (IND), “it’s not known to the public and they don’t take into consideration the money spent and the work done.”

He said he was hopeful of new funding streams coming online in the coming years to improve the upkeep and maintenance of the sites.

Cllr Philip Brady (FF) queried the cost of insuring the sites saying “insurance always seems to be a problem”.

Mr Carty agreed saying some community groups contacted the council for help in insuring their playgrounds due to rising costs.

This saw the local authority draw up agreements with the groups that sees it cover the cost of insurance and maintenance of the sites.

Director of Services for Housing, Libraries and Cultural Services, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Eoin Doyle, also praised the work of council staff.

He too said the funding of works and the cost of upkeep of the sites is proving a challenge for the council: “We need to look carefully at how they’re funded going forward. We need to be looking too at the quality of our playgrounds, rather than the quantity.”

2022 will also see the opening of the county’s newest playground in Laragh.

That facility will be managed by Laragh Sports Partnership but the council again will be taking responsibility for the insurance and maintenance of the site.