New interactive play equipment for children and young people has been installed in each of our four main towns – Royston, Baldock, Hitchin and Letchworth.
All equipment has been installed in consultation with local residents so operational times vary slightly. All equipment will be monitored – the volume and operating hours can be easily adjusted if necessary.
Councillor Steve Jarvis, Executive Member for Environment and Leisure, said: “The new interactive play equipment is some of the latest on the market, ranging from educational and fun games to encourage and help younger children to move and dance to sounds and music, to more traditional football games with a technological interactive edge for older young people. It’s great to see kids of all ages enjoying using the items throughout North Herts.
“We regularly review our play provision in the district, to see how we can improve what we have, ensure it is well maintained and add new pieces where we can. We are also currently working on improvements to play equipment at Smithson’s Rec in Hitchin and the replacement of a few small items of junior play equipment at Great Ashby District Park.”
The council is working with Groundwork East, the county’s leading environmental regeneration charity, on our play projects. Julia Watts, Principal Landscape Architect at Groundwork East, added: "It is great to get the opportunity to work with an authority who is keen to look at a different type of equipment than the traditional and we look forward to working further with North Herts on their ambitious plans."
Royston
Last month, a large wall with 16 screens designed to be played by kicking a ball against it opened at Serby Avenue in Royston. The total playing time throughout July was 71 hours and the most popular game was ‘Total’ where you have to kick a ball in each panel, but if you hit a panel twice you have to start again. Operational from 9am to 7pm.
Baldock
Earlier this month, interactive play pillars with arcade-like touch areas opened at Holroyd Crescent in Baldock. In its first 10 days it was played for a total of 25 hours, with ‘Runner’ – a racing game – the most popular game, followed closely by ‘Maths’, where the central pillar shows a sum, and you have to pick the correct answer from options on the outer pillars. Operational from 9am to 7pm.
Hitchin
A sound and dance arch at Bancroft in Hitchin was the first to open in April, which was played for more than 200 hours in its first month – that’s over eight and a half days! The most popular game in July was ‘Move maker’ where players dance and perform a series of crazy challenges to all kinds of music. Other popular games include ‘Freeze’, similar to musical statues, and ‘Moon monster’, an imagination game with an invisible monster hiding on the moon – you have to sneak (walk or crawl!) under the arch and run away when you hear the monster. Operational from 9am to 6pm.
Letchworth – coming soon!
In mid-September, we’re hoping the multipurpose compact sports area at Jackmans Central in Letchworth will open, unfortunately it’s been delayed getting it connected to the electricity supply.
The total cost of the four pieces of interactive play equipment is £221,657 which was funded from the council’s play area capital investment budget.
More information and videos of the equipment in action: Playground equipment - Yalp Interactive
Get the latest news by email
You can subscribe to get news and service updates by email. It's free, you can choose which topics you’re interested in and you can unsubscribe at any time.