St. Mary’s Island Play Parks

This is an update on the play parks closure during the Covid-19 lockdown.

As residents will be aware, all of the publicly owned play parks across Medway are now open.  Since the Government provided further guidance on the opening and operation/maintenance of play parks, Chatham Maritime Trust has been reviewing the guidance and working through the implications of opening the three play areas.

Unfortunately, the guidance is particularly onerous for privately owned parks compared to the fairly relaxed guidance for public ones.  This has meant that the Trust has had to look at putting safety and security measures in place in addition to those required for public parks, resulting in the delay to opening the SMI play areas.

The Trust wishes to assure residents that it is our intention to open the play areas as soon as is practically possible once we are able to make the necessary provisions to ensure that we can fully and safely adhere to Government guidance imposed upon us.

The Trust has received many enquiries on this issue.  We would ask residents to hold off requesting further information on the subject until the Trust’s Estates Team has completed the safety/security review and implementation process.  We hope to confirm next week the opening date and necessary restriction and control measures to be put into place.