Play area at Wesley Hill, Kingswood wins disabled grant

Kingswood councillors are warmly welcoming the award of £3,250 to a recently-upgraded open space to improve access for children with disabilities.

The play area at Wesley Hill has been refurbished this year with the planting of shrubs, the laying of safe matting in the play area and the installation of new play equipment. The site is one of the local spaces recognised by the national QEII Fields Challenge programme, and it received its formal plaque acknowledging this back in August.  

Now the local community has learnt that Wesley Hill will receive £3,250 from the programme's Inclusion Fund to make the space even more accessible. This grant will fund a number of improvements including raised beds with sensory planting for the play area, and wooden edging to act as low seats. The play area has also been adapted to help access by wheelchair users, and the purpose of these improvements is to make it more appealing for children with disabilities.

The Inclusion Fund was created to coincide with the 2012 Paralympic Games to improve access to sport and play facilities for disabled children and young people. A total of 45 applications were received from a wide range of site owners across the UK, and the disability charity Scope helped to assess the applications.