Cale Park Play Area and Car Park are Closing for Refurbishment!

At long last, work to refurbish Wincanton's primary play area is about to begin. It'll soon have improved access by means of a brand new footbridge, and a full set of all-new play equipment to complement a few old favourites that will be sticking around for years to come, no doubt.

But of course all this comes at a price, and not just the £175,000 that has been spent on it. To make it all happen the play area and car park will need to be closed to the public, temporarily, from Monday 9th May. Here's the full schedule for the works to be completed this summer.

Monday 9th - Friday 13th May: materials and bridge foundations

The play area and car park will close to the public to provide room for the workforce and the storage of materials throughout. Initially this will involve the delivery of many tonnes of sand, for pits and such, and mulch for soft safety surfaces. Residents living in the Pines Close and Cavalier Way area are forewarned that there will be increased HGV traffic during this period.

Later that week the foundations for the new bridge will be laid. Deep holes will be dug both sides of the river and filled with concrete.

Monday 16th - Tuesday 17th May: trackway for heavy machinery

Very large and heavy machinery is required to transport the bridge and lower it onto its foundations. The crane will need to operate from the play area side of the river, but access is across soft ground and vulnerable tree roots. A load-bearing trackway from the car park to the play area is required to minimise damage and prevent the crane getting stuck in the mud.

Wednesday 18th May: bridge installation

With the trackway prepared the bridge will be transported to the play area, most likely in a single piece, and lowered by crane directly onto the foundations. This is where things get interesting, because the vehicle transporting the bridge is a behemoth and access to the park via Pines Close and Cavalier way could prove rather tight.

It is for this reason that on this day residents of Pines Close, Cavalier Way and most notably, Holly Court are asked to ensure they don't park any vehicles along the side of the road near the entrance to Pines Close, particularly near the bend into Cavalier Way. Fortunately the sensitive hours should be restricted to the morning from around 9.00am.

Monday 23rd May: installation of new play equipment

With the bridge in place, and hopefully with the trackway still down, Play UK will arrive to install all the fabulous new play equipment to complete the refurbishment, with one or two exceptions.

The centrepiece of the play area will be a large castle feature, high upon a mound with foundations of rubble and earth and other suitable materials. Before the castle can be constructed the mound must first be left to settle, so for six months or so there'll just be a mound for kids to roll down. The patter of little feet will speed things along.

There isn't yet a firm date for completion of the work, but SSDC has planned a Play Day for August 25th and the Cale Park working group is cautiously optimistic that the new play area will be complete in time for that. There's a great deal of landscaping work to be completed in that time, so much of it will be dependent on weather conditions.

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