A Porirua parent has successfully lobbied council to reinstall a fence around her local playground after a “dumb decision” was made to take it down.
Porirua City Council Mayor Anita Baker was so shocked by the situation, she herself signed a petition organised by parents, opposing the decision made by other council staff.
Mum Melissa Ansell-Bridges enjoyed taking her three young children to Aotea Lagoon Playground because it was one of a handful of local playgrounds for small children that had a fence.
Unfenced playgrounds were “inaccessible” to parents who had mobility issues or parents who, like her, had multiple children.
“It basically means that one parent couldn’t take the kids to the playground.
“We’d need at least both of us and even then it’s quite a stressful situation.”
Having a fenced playground put her, and a lot of other parents, at ease, especially those whose kids were neurodiverse or were “runners”, she said.
Ansell-Bridges was especially concerned because of the location of the playground, which was near a large body of water and surrounded by other hazards, such as a miniature train service.
The playground was recently refurbished with new equipment by Porirua City Council.
As part of the makeover, the metal fence that enclosed the toddler’s playground was removed.
When Ansell-Bridges discovered this, she messaged the council’s Facebook page to ask if there was a delay in installing a new fence.
She received a response that said: “The fence will not be replaced in that area, but the team will be back shortly to reinstall the bench seat and finish off some gardening work.”
Frustrated, Ansell-Bridges drafted an open letter to council asking for the fence to be reinstalled and shared it in local parenting groups.
“Within 24 hours we had over 220 signatures on the open letter,” she said.
She emailed an open letter with signatures attached to Porirua City Mayor Anita Baker.
“I signed the petition because I was so freaking angry,” Baker said.
“I couldn’t believe that staff would actually do that.”
Baker said removing the fence was “the dumbest decision ever”.
She made inquiries within council about the fence’s removal and emailed Ansell-Bridges soon after, saying: “I have just been informed we will be putting a fence back up. Great result”.
“I haven’t heard from staff why it was taken down, but I know it’s going back up,” Baker told the Herald.
Porirua City Council’s infrastructure general manager Mike Mendonça said the fence was removed as part of a wider project to improve the Aotea Lagoon play spaces.
“The decision was made following a risk assessment and design process with a playground specialist, with the goal of creating an open, inclusive space.
“Factors considered included that the waterway is some distance from the playground, and the pathway leading towards the road is already separated by fencing and gates.”
Mendonça said community members had since made it clear they valued having the fence, so council had decided to reinstall it.
“We value feedback from our community and are glad that we’ve been able to come to an outcome that everyone is happy with.”
Ansell-Bridges felt there was a wider issue around too few playgrounds in the Wellington region being fenced and said she would be raising this with council in the near future.
Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.