Hastings MP welcomes £1.27 million upgrade to local playgrounds
Local MP Helena Dollimore is celebrating a £1.27 million investment to Hastings playgrounds, following her long-running campaign with local parents and carers to improve play spaces for local children.
She said: “It’s fantastic news that playgrounds in Hastings will receive a £1.27 million upgrade thanks to this investment that I have secured from Labour Government. It is good that the Labour Group on Hastings Borough Council also successfully pushed for an additional £280,000 to support this work.
"So many local children and parents have told me how much they want to see playgrounds in Hastings improve. When I investigated our local playgrounds, I found that far too many had fallen into disrepair or closed altogether.
"I have been highlighting this in Parliament, in the national press, and in discussions with ministers and local councils, because children in Hastings deserve better.
"This funding from the Labour Government’s Pride in Place programme is all about making Hastings a better place to live. Local people know our area better than anyone else, and that is why the Labour Government rightly said it is up to local people to decide how to spend this £21.5 million.
"I am asking children and parents in Hastings to give me their ideas for the design of our new playgrounds I will keep pushing for as many residents as possible to have their say."
Helena has repeatedly raised concerns about the worn-down equipment at the council-run playground in Alexandra Park. She teamed up with local mum and Labour councillor for Silverhill, Billie Barnes, to highlight the need for improvements, and supported another local mum’s campaign for better facilities.
As part of her campaign, the MP carried out an audit of all the playgrounds in her constituency and found that eight playgrounds had closed since 2014, and over half of the playgrounds in Hastings, Rye and the villages needed upgrading.