For over 25 years the Appley Sand Park in Ryde has been a unique place for children to play, but local councillors are now considering removing almost all of the sand.
Councillors Michael Lilley, Jenna Sabine and Lisa Carter of Ryde Town Council are bashing around the idea of making the sand park an all-year-round attraction for local youngsters by installing all-weather flooring.
At present, the sand park is closed during the winter months with new sand being placed down ahead of the annual Spring opening. This has made logical sense for decades as there is little attraction in playing at the seaside on a wet, windy day in the middle of December.
But the future of the sand-filled play park is now at risk and could soon become just another playground. The aim is to remove the majority of the sand and replace it with a hard flooring so the play park can be open year-round. A small amount of sand would be retained around 1 specific piece of equipment.
Residents are being informally asked through social media whether they would support the idea of removing the sand. It’s unclear whether there will be a formal consultation.
WHY bother pretending to ask !
As RTC will ignore any input and do what they want to do anyway……..!
Tick the boxes, end of.
It ain’t broke.
If they insist on spending money, would make more sense to spend it improving Puckpool playground which has been bashed around and is popular cos people can park.
The only thing broke is the councillors.
the council will be charging the kids to play in there before long.
25 years leave it alone
It’s a play park,how can kids use it in the winter if it’s shut,it seems to me another case if the RTC doing what they want,when they want,I agree with Dr .jollop
I am a Ryde town councillor, but have not been told this, but then there is an inner circle of councillors who seem to think they can do what they want without notifying other councillors, I will be going against this and thanks for bringing it to my attention!
It has sand because it is a beach front play park for the summer months. Lilley needs to get his head out of his backside and realise that his penny pinching isn’t going to cut it on this – the point of the sand is to let the little ones feel like they are on the beach as well. Is it that hard lilley
The thing is these councillors only do these things to get in the Isle of Wight history books and tell the grandchildren when passing saying i did that. They are a bunch of nobody’s using other peoples money to bust thier sad egos
How exactly is upgrading a playground ‘penny pinching’? Surely it’s better to have a playground you can use for more than a few months in a year?
As to the horrors of them suggesting removing the sand. If only there was an enormous amount of sand just a few metres away, like a beach or something.
One last thing about Kirby’s inner-circle nonsense. People should be aware that he is a freemason. This is public information, you can find it on his page on the town council web site (under register of interests). I believe what we are seeing here is called ‘projection’.
What’s being a Freemason got to do with it Carol? Their philanthropy is beneficial to the island. Do I sense a little jealousy, did one have one’s nose put out of joint?
Carol what part of the council do you work for??????????
Ah, the infamous Les Kirkby whose only talent is being outraged. Aren’t you the councillor who said he would resign twice last year then didn’t? Accusing other councillors of all sorts that was in fact all lies?
Just like the ‘inner circle of councillors’ line. It’s made up and only exists in your head. Truth is that there are councillors that do things and others that literally do nothing other than moan. Care to guess which councillor Kirkby is?
I am reliably told that the council only see you for a couple of hours every 6 weeks at their main meeting and that’s all. It seems to me that you are keeping yourself wilfully ignorant and rather than actually do anything positive for the town, you just moan and make things up to attack the people that are at least trying to.
It’s very sad that people listen to you, because pretty much everything you say is nonsense.
Oh dear! Communication is key! Perhaps the councillors who think they can do things in a ‘cloak & dagger’ manner shouldn’t be councillors at all.
What about children’s health and safety? Clean, soft sand is much more user-friendly than a hard surface to play on (in). Will skate boarders and cyclists be tempted by the hard flooring? What about children’s and parents having a say in this? Seems to be a waste of taxpayers’ money
Keep the sand our kids love to play at this park and the sand makes it different and special
Hello everyone, I’ve asked for a meeting with IW council to understand the barriers for why the playground can’t be open all year round and to understand what’s required to enable it to be open in the winter. Then I was planning to ask RTC to officially ask the public (once I had the facts and figures) what they’d like. It’s just conversations and ideas at the moment.
Leave it alone……( Please ).
RTC have already messed up big time,
What, with the demolition of the most used toilets on the island and a charming beach side cafe.
All for the sake of extra parking spaces.
Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.
Once it’s gone it’s gone forever.
Those toilets were owned and are being demolished by the Isle of Wight Council, not the town.
Similarly the playgrounds are also owned by the IW Council and all RTC are doing are looking into the possibility of having them open all year instead of just the summer. And you lot still somehow are hell bent on moaning about things being improved. Utter madness.
If this is the case, what is the point of your organisation ?
Do you just like to take a little credit, when it suits. And then pass the buck when it doesn’t ?
What is the reason for being a member of RTC.
I spose it looks good on your CV, as you state, you have no real power.
Perhaps our wonderful town council could direct their efforts into getting back the access to and use of Appley car park as well as the footpath in front of the cafe or are we going to be denied access for another year.
The roads, footpaths and pavements are the responsibility of Island Roads contracted by the Isle of Wight Council. Ryde Town Council have no more say over this than you do.
But RTC are consulted around all issues effecting the area are they not? They too give permission about what proposals are going to take place and when. Look at the fiasco with the harbour etc, RTCs doing.
How about our town council using their efforts to force Southern Water to return our access to Appley car park and the frontage of the cafe as well as make good the section of road they have destroyed or are we losing this parking for another year.
Yes it’s ridiculous the park sends more time closed than open .it’s very disappointing g for the children…as that small children’s park
Why not put jt on the beach itself and corden it off ..that wa jatejts can see the children all the time and it doesn’t take up much space