Exciting news! Clarinda Park Playground at 38 - 56 Clarinda Road, Essendon, is getting a makeover! From 25 November - 22 December 2024, Council consulted on a draft concept plan to seek community feedback. This concept plan kept all of the play elements you know and love (such as the swings, slide, ladder, trak ride and 4-way springer), while introducing some fresh new features designed to spark even more fun and adventure.

Here’s a sneak peek at what we proposed for the upgraded playground:

• A high rope climb for thrilling challenges
• Cluster climbers for imaginative play
• Rock stepping stones to test your balance
• A sand digger for creative digging fun
• An adventure trail to explore and enjoy
• An obstacle trail with rocks and timber logs for daring explorers
• A shade sail to keep things cool and comfortable
• Balance beams to practice agility
• An additional picnic bench for relaxing and gathering

As this is a smaller park there is no capacity to install a public toilet or sporting facilities at the site.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our survey, call us and email us - we're now reviewing all feedback received. A report that contains all feedback can be found here.

Consultation Update

Following the consultation, Council will be making the following changes to the playground design:

1. Additional tree planting within the surrounding space to increase shade (noting that a shade sail will also be installed over the playground) upon consultation with our internal Trees and Urban Forest team, additional planting will take place around the playspace post the upgrades completion.
2. An additional number of native vegetation planted around the garden beds.
3. Relocating the drinking fountain to be closet to the main entry path, outside the playspace so that it is accessible to a greater number of park users.

Council received numerous requests for sports activities. Unfortunately, those requests were outside the scope of this consultation and cannot be accommodated at this time. Given the size of this park, there is intention to retain a large portion of it as passive open space, so that it can be used by a broad range of community members for a variety of purposes.

Our playgrounds upon installation are subjected to compliance audit by a qualified third party expert to ensure that they are appropriate for public use and meet the Australian Playground Standards AS4685. Our playgrounds are then routinely inspected on a monthly basis by internal staff members, and the entirety of the municipality is audited for compliance by a third party expert on a quarterly basis.