Please fence us in!

Are our new parks a death-trap for children’

Several groups of Pyrmont residents say that despite a $40 million spend on the new park being built on the site of the old Water Police depot, childcare groups and families will not be able to use the large playground in safety because it will not be fenced.

They also say the lack of shade in key parts of the playground make it a health risk, and have appealed to Lord Mayor Clover Moore to fix these problems before the park is opened this year.

The play area is designed with partial barriers to give a sense of enclosure, but children would not be physically separated from either the water on one side or Pirrama Road on the other.

Neither would they be separated from off-leash dog areas, raising concerns about dogs attacking children and soiling the sandpit area.

The new park, a key issue during the original election of the Clover Moore Party and a pet project of Cr Marcelle Hoff, was noted for the quality of its early consultation with the community before any concept plans were made.

But residents say even though concerns about fencing and shade were brought up at that early stage, they seem to have disappeared during planning and development.

‘We love the overall design but childcare groups will not be able to use it because they don’t have enough staff to watch all the children all the time,’ said Jean Stuart from Pyrmont Community Group.

‘There is a need to protect small children from unsupervised contact with dogs. The sand pit is in the park area and for hygienic reasons needs to be kept separate from dogs.’

Childcare centres and groups in the area have very little play space and say they would use the play area if it was made safe. Several have endorsed the residents’ call including Maybanke Kindergarten, Sydney Day Nurseries, the Pyrmont Mothers’ Group and the Harris Community Playgroup.

There is a long history of park politics in Pyrmont with residents guerrilla-gardening their own park into existence before the redevelopment of the Point in the 1990s. Then came the sweeping Pyrmont Point Park with its own sandpit, which was also not fenced. Childcare groups no longer use the park since a child fell into the water.

‘Some people may not like the aesthetics of a playground fence but I’m sure they wouldn’t like to see a child run over by a car or attacked by a dog. Safety is paramount where children are concerned,’ said Margaret Bergemann from the Mustard Seed Faith Community, a Uniting Church group.

The City of Sydney was approached for comment but had not replied before The City News print deadline.