THE design for Hermitage Park’s new children's playground, set to open in the summer of next year, has been finalised.

The new playground will be moving from beside the memorial garden to the old putting green.

The Friends of Hermitage Park, in partnership with Argyll and Bute Council, has extended their thanks to everyone who has been involved in the input of the design, especially staff and pupils at Parklands School who guided them to ensure the playground and wider park was accessible for all of the community.

Gwen Gilmour, head teacher at Parklands, said: “A small group met at the park to show the difficulties with accessibility. We are excited to see how the suggestions will be taken forward when complete.”

The new park, designed by the main landscape contractors Hawthorn Heights, is set to feature some new equipment, including not only one, but two battling zip wires.

A spokeswoman for the Friends charity said: “Our hardest decision was to include a sand pit with water play station and, in terms of maintenance and health and safety, a sand pit added greatly to the park’s maintenance regime.

“The enthusiasm and joy on the faces of those children who provided feedback was overwhelming and so we have added it into the playground. But we will be monitoring it closely.

“However, we are looking for support from the community both to help manage the sand pit, which would include daily checks and some aspects of maintenance. Please contact the Friends if you are able to help.”

The charity has thanked the Helensburgh Play Park Association, who, together with a number of other groups, raised funds to replace equipment at the site in 2014.

The equipment they repaired will not be scrapped, and the vast majority of the items – including the steel rocking horse, Cramberry – will be used in the new playground, whilst the rest of the items will be relocated to other playgrounds in Argyll and Bute.

The Heritage Lottery Fund funded £2.3million of the wider Hermitage Park development, of which £180,000 was for the new playground.

In addition Hermitage Play Park Association donated a further amount to allow the Friends to add a 'mega swing', which will be located outside of the main playground.

The council’s own amenity services team provided advice on the technical side of the design and will continue to undertake the long term maintenance.

However, park users are also encouraged to help look after the equipment with as there is an “ever decreasing maintenance budget for amenity services”.

The Friends highlighted that it is important the play equipment is used appropriately because the budget does not allow for it to be replaced if it gets broken.

For example, even small play items with large springs would cost £500 per spring to replace.