Due to great public demand, a new adventurous playground was installed and opened on Tuesday 31 May at Eastbrookend Country Park.

The Barking & Dagenham Rangers Service secured funding through the council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), funds provided by developers working in the borough to help build new infrastructure, to install a fantastic new children’s adventurous play area aimed at 2–12-year-olds. The new play area features fun and challenging play apparatus, for users of all abilities, that complements the country park setting.

A natural Robinia wood was chosen to create an attractive fun space with natural playground equipment, the most effective child development tools that the playground designers could utilise. Rubber bonded bark mulch surfacing has also been added under all the equipment to retain the natural look of the landscape. 

The playground will give young visitors to the park an opportunity to be playful and have fun, surrounded by this beautiful green landscape, in the heart of the borough

The coordinated teal roofs on the multi-play units and subtle green tones on some of the posts combine with the timber colours for an attractive view against the backdrop of the country park and Discovery Centre, which ties in with the country park branding, whilst also adding an atheistic appeal to the play area.

This new play area will add to the already fantastic facilities at Eastbrookend Country Park which boasts the Eastbrookend Discovery Centre and tearoom, outdoor gym, fishing lakes, horse-riding, Ranger-led events and guided walks, nature trails and acres and acres of beautiful countryside, right in the heart of Barking and Dagenham.

In 2020, the council declared a climate emergency, to show that while we have a long way to go, these improvements to this beautiful green landscape, is part of the council’s commitment to being as green as possible to create a better, safer future for future generations. 

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Housing, Cllr Saima Ashraf said: “This new playground will be a valuable addition to our much-loved Eastbrookend Country Park. The playground will give young visitors to the park an opportunity to be playful and have fun, surrounded by this beautiful green landscape, in the heart of the borough.

Funded with money from the council’s levy on developers, this is a great example of how regeneration and growth in Barking and Dagenham benefits the entire community.”

For more information on Barking & Dagenham Country Parks please visit our website: www.barkinganddagenhamcountryparks.com