Date: October 3rd 2013

William Nelson Park opens this Sunday

William Nelson Park in Hastings will open this Sunday.

The park is located on 6000m2 of land bordered by St Aubyn Street, King Street and Avenue Road and incorporates a large green space, a children’s playground and a skate plaza.

“This is a fantastic addition of green space and youth oriented facilities for the centre of town”, says Mayor Lawrence Yule. “It helps meet our commitments from the sale of the former Nelson Park, and it provides world class facilities for our young people.”

“Now having a safe and user-friendly facility for all is a focus of attention” says Mr Yule.

Safety and security is of paramount importance and Council has put a number of initiatives in place that will enhance safety for park users. For 8 weeks following Sunday’s opening, two guardians will be at the park from midday till 9pm, 7 days a week to ensure the safety and good behaviour of park users. An experienced security guard will take over at 9pm each evening and be there throughout the night. Council will consider a paper next Thursday which will look at providing funding to put in place appropriate levels of user safety and security measures on an ongoing basis.

In addition, a coach will be in attendance at the park from 3-7pm, 7 days a week to ensure that the users enjoy their skating experience and he will offer advice on how to get the most from the facility. State of the art CCTV cameras have also been installed to overlook the park.

Councillor Sandra Hazlehurst says “We are determined that this park will provide a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. The park has been developed to support our youth who wish to pursue active, healthy lifestyles and we expect that there will be a large number of users each day.”

“Eight young guardians have been identified through the Atomic Events Centre and they will become the eyes and ears who will help maintain security at the park. Council has provided the infrastructure but it is important that the users take ownership of the facility and become extremely proud of it. They need to care for the park and ensure that the overall behavior of all users is maintained at a high standard,” Sandra Hazlehurst says.

The official opening ceremony is to be held this Sunday, 6th October from 10am. That will be followed by activity in the skate plaza with displays and instruction from national skate crews. The entertainment continues throughout the afternoon with giveaways and local bands entertaining on the stage in the grassed area of the park.

ENDS

© Scoop Media