While work may not fully begin until after the Weddin Shire Australia Day ceremony in January, the first sod has turned at Taylor Park for the creation of the Taylor Park Inclusive playspace.
Members of the Weddin community were joined by Weddin Shire Councillors, Stephen Lawrence MLC, Steph Cooke MP, and community advocate Emily Essex to celebrate the beginning of the ‘Livvi’s Place Taylor Park’ inclusive playspace project.
Weddin Shire Council, in partnership with Touched by Olivia Foundation, are creating the inclusive play space as part of the redevelopment of Taylor Park.
This redevelopment is funded by the NSW Government through their Stronger Country Communities Fund Round 5 and Crown Reserve Improvement Fund.
Weddin Shire Mayor, Paul Best said they plan to start the major works in January after Australia Day, as Taylor Park is host to several events such as Carols by candlelight and the Australia Day ceremony.
Cr Best said initial hopes are that the redevelopment will be completed by the end of June, 2025, and the fact both stages are funded and able to be completed together, they will get a lot of savings as they will have people on site and not have to come back for a second stage.
Cr Best said the money will stretch a lot further, and will get more of the park completed, making the whole park accessible, not just the planned play space.
Stephen Lawrence, MLC, said as part of his role, he is asked to announce the Crown Reserves Improvement Fund grants and was going to announce the grant received by Weddin Shire for this redevelopment at an event not long after it had been approved.
However, upon hearing from Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke and the background of the project, they decided to postpone the event to October 31 so they could host a community event to better reflect the community effort that had gone into it.
"It's really good to be here on behalf of the government to help turn the sod and to help mark the grant from the Crown Reserve Improvement Fund which was over $600,000. Quite a big grant for that fund, which I think was recognition of the effort and time Council put in to the grant application, well done to the Council, but also recognition of how worthy this project is," he said.
Cr Best said they would like to thank Mr Lawrence for attending and the Crown Lands Department as is it a massive grant for our community.
Community advocate Emily Essex said she is thrilled they are going to have the whole project completed in one go.
"I think have that staged approach was really good initially to make sure we had a future plan for the whole park, but knowing that it is all going to be completed in one hit is really good," she said.
Ms Essex said she thinks people will be really excited to see the progress on the project and she thinks the community might appreciate the expected fast pace of the project.
Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke said this project is a long time coming and there has been a lot of advocacy by some really strong and committed people in this community.
Ms Cooke said the project was led at a local level by Emily and as the the local member she has been on board to help bring this to Grenfell as they have Livvi's playgrounds in other towns in the electorate.
"What really wanted to do together was to bring this to Grenfell," she said.
Ms Cooke said this wouldn't have been possible without the input of Weddin Shire Council, who have been on board since the beginning.
Ms Cooke said this project has been able to be funded with two separate parcels of funding, which means it can be all completed at the one time, rather than in stages like so many other projects in our communities.
Once the redevelopment is completed, Ms Cooke said Grenfell and the wider region will have a fantastic facility for all ages, stages and abilities for our young people.