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A group of local parents attending a local playgroup started to discuss the possibility of a better playspace for our children. We very quickly realised by talking to other people in the area that we needed more than a playground, we needed a great park and playground that would be a place for us all to use and the only way to do that was to get together and see what we could achieve . A Public Meeting was held in November 2004 and received overwhelming support and enthusiasm from local parents and community groups, councillors and Council staff. As a result a committee was formed and incorporated. For the past two years ACPC has been meeting fortnightly and more recently monthly, building community awareness, researching the possibilities of a community built project, gathering council support, fundraising and generally developing the important skills required to become capable volunteers within our community. We also very quickly realised that in order to be successful we needed to involve a broad cross-section of our community while also recognising that those with the greatest motivation to be involved would be parents.
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Our community committee currently consists of local parents of preschool and very young children (all of whom live very close to the park), residents, secondary college students, the coordinator of the Sunshine Special Development School, Maribyrnong City Council’s Landscape Architect and Brimbank Council’s Open Space Coordinator (Landscape Architect). The Ardeer Community Playground Committee plans that the redevelopment will be a community built project and to this end, we are involving our community from the very beginning and will continue through to construction.
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Our committee has about 14 members. Each of us on the committee has a role, and the next step after achieving our design is working toward having enough money for construction. Sponsorship is an integral part of reaching our goal. We have a comprehensive plan to get us to a completed park. The plan involves publicity, design, fundraising, volunteer coordination, materials donation, building and much more. We have been working with Council, and lots of other community groups. We want as many people as possible to be involved, because that way we will get a park that reflects what we all want. And it makes the work of the ACPC so much easier.
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The Ardeer area has a high number of children from disadvantaged
backgrounds. About 90% of parents who have children at Ardeer Primary
School receive Education Maintenance Allowance so their parents are on very
low incomes. We have high numbers of children from refugee backgrounds
and children from families where the primary language is other than English.
We also have high numbers of children (32%) attending the local Ardeer
Primary School who have special needs.
At the moment as we all know, there is a lack of quality open space and
opportunities for exercise, relaxation and recreation in Brimbank. We do not
have adequate playground facilities for children with special needs, their
families or park space for people of any age (including the elderly). We do not
have green places that allow our community to congregate and enjoy each
other’s company, learn about each other and act in a neighbourly way.
Recently, at a Save Sunshine Pool Rally, several speakers pointed out that
there had been local conflict at the Sunshine train station between groups of
local youths, much of which they believed could be avoided if the teenagers
had local places to go that they enjoyed.
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