Crawley Borough Council start work on renovating children’s playground in preparation for reopening

These works are aligned to the inspection report undertaken which identified that many of the pieces of equipment, including the castle structure, had either reached the end of life and/or were not appropriate for an unsupervised play area and needed to be removed or replaced.

Crawley Borough Council is also continuing to work with residents and a local community group, Inspirecastle, to support them in developing activities on the site over holiday periods once the site reopens.

Natalie Campbell from Inspirecastle won a community award at Crawley’s Community Awards 2022 for helping save Millpond adventure playground.

Inspirecastle Group is made up of Mrs Campbell, the founder and ‘Save the Millpond’ petitioner, along with David Graffham and Kathy Rogers from Delta Security Management and Daniel Armstrong of Spotted Crawley.

When it was revelaved plans fopr the adventure playground were being explored, a spokesperson for Inspire Castle said: “Everyone here at Inspirecastle Group is so excited about the plans for the Millpond and our collaboration with the council and the local and wider community to make this site somewhere everyone can come together to benefit.

“This is going to be the hub we campaigned for, in one of the most diverse and passionate communities in Crawley, and we are excited to be a part of creating a bright long-term future for the site.”

Councillor Chris Mullins,said: “We’re pleased to have commenced the redevelopment of Millpond playground and are looking forward to speaking to local residents in due course to get their thoughts on plans for the new play area.”

Mrs Campbell spearheaded a petition which raised 4,173 signatures to save the sites after the council decided to close the play area in February 2021 saying the ffinancial figures were ‘unstainable’ and the closures would save the council £210,000 while keeping Creasys Drive, Millpond Cherry Lane and Waterlea open would would mean more than £500,000 would have to be spent on refurbishments.

See more: Crawley Community Awards 2022: Pictures of all the winners and performances at another brilliant ceremony, Crawley Community Awards 2022-LIVE: Follow the ceremony here as the winners are announced, Closure of Crawley’s adventure playgrounds - readers share their views