Adult fitness trails in Tauranga - please consider submitting to the 2019/20 Annual Plan

Rebecca from Papamoa Beach

Hi,

This week I made a submission to the Tauranga annual plan asking the council to consider provision for adult-sized play/fitness structures in parks, so it's easier for adults to get more movement into their day. For example, monkey bars, chin up bars, obstacles to vault over /balance on etc.

Particularly in areas where there is or is planned to have denser housing and smaller gardens and/or public transport is not great for getting to gyms/pools etc. Also on the waterfront or in the domain, so office-based adults have a place to work out in outdoors close to the CBD.

I previously emailed it as a general enquiry, and Nick Townshend from Environmental Services replied to say it was good idea, and I should make this suggestion to the annual plan for the coming year, which I’ve now done.

So this message is to let people know in case anyone else has been thinking along the same lines and/or thinks it’s a good idea too.

If so, please also make a submission to support the idea, the more voices in support the better. Below is the text I submitted and attached is some supporting info - feel free to reuse!

You can submit here:
www.tauranga.govt.nz...

Thanks

Rebecca

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Submission:

Please could Tauranga council consider:

1. Adding some adult- sized obstacles to the parks/grassy spaces of Tauranga that can be used for fitness and play, e.g. monkey bars, chin up bars, obstacles to vault over /balance on etc. Particularly in areas where there is or is planned to have denser housing and smaller gardens and/or public transport is not great for getting to gyms/pools etc. Also on the waterfront or in the domain, so office-based adults have a place to work out and play in close to the CBD.

2. Updating policy to include provision for adult-sized play/fitness structures in parks, so adults can get more movement into their day, e.g. especially time poor parents who could then have the opportunity to work out and play at the same time as their kids.

I attach a great example from a park in Levin near Wellington and an email from Levin council on where they sourced the equipment. I've also seen great examples in parks in Christchurch, e.g. around the edge of Hagley park. and in Brisbane and on the Sunshine coast. Tauranga has such a great climate for this kind of thing.

I live in Papamoa and there's lots of grassy spaces where this kind of thing could be installed and would help get people out and moving and forming communities to work out and play in.

I notice a park in Gloucester road is about to be redesigned we new football pitches, I was wondering if there is scope to add something like the attached around the edge?

There is good research that shows:

a) the fastest growing leisure occupations are informal rather than formal exercise areas, with the 2013/2014 Active New Zealand Survey indicating 97.7% of adults undertake casual recreation rather than structured. The NHS in the UK supports outdoor fitness trails www.nhs.uk...

b) play facilitates health, well-being and social connection for all ages, so facilitating environments for play to occur in for all ages helps promote healthier communities - both in physical and mental health terms. The attached slides from the 'Day of play' workshop run by a well-respected movement educator John Polley at the national fitness education conference in November contains research references in this area and has further details of this concept.

Other authorities such as the Horowhenua in the lower north island have already recognised the benefits of adult-size obstacles in parks and are supportive of this type of approach to encourage populations to get active. Please refer to attached email from Levin council.

I would love to help contribute to the thinking and design of something like this - I'm qualified as a personal trainer and MovNat coach (although I work in IT).

There used to be a few obstacles in Ferguson park, but the chin up bars last time I looked were in a state of disrepair (the bars turned when you hang off them) and the vaulting obstacles disappeared last winter.

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Rebecca

Play and fitness obstacles for Tauranga Parks.pdf Download View

Email re fitness trails - Horowhenua Council.pdf Download View

Day of Play full notes.pdf Download View