Wellington’s Frank Kitts Park playground saved from being turned into patch of grass

The Frank Kitts Park playground slide was dismantled in 2021. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Wellington City Council has saved Frank Kitts Park playground from being turned into a patch of grass and has unanimously agreed to go ahead with a scaled-down revamp.

The playground has faced several challenges in recent years - from children breaking their legs on the slide, to the contractor appointed to undertake construction work going into liquidation, to cost blowouts.

A few months ago, the council was forced to go back to the drawing board when it was clear the new playground could not be delivered within its $9.4 million budget. One option on the table was to return the waterfront land to a piece of lawn.

But the council this morning voted to proceed with a rescoped design that is more simple and cost-effective.

The design incorporates new equipment that’s already been purchased, will cost $3.5m on top of the $3.6m already spent on the project, and take up to six months to build.

Councillor Ben McNulty said Frank Kitts Park was one of Wellington’s treasures and held memories for many people, including falling off the slide himself as a child.

“For others, it was an awkward first date after Reading Cinema and being able to make out at the top of the lighthouse slide... it’s such a quintessential part of Wellington,” McNulty said.

“It doesn’t matter what your age is, it doesn’t matter where you come from, this space exists for everyone.”

The original lighthouse slide was removed in 2021 due to safety concerns. Etched into its fibreglass were memories of two different lives.

By day, delighted squeals echoed through its upper tube from children who relentlessly climbed up the lighthouse tower to go down the slide again and again.

By night the slide was home to moonlight pashes, first dates, illicit substances, and drunken antics.

The slide was turned into a firewood chute after its removal.

There will be a soft opening for the new playground in December so the space is available to Wellingtonians over the summer before a formal opening in February.

McNulty acknowledged the scaled-down version of the playground was not as ambitious as originally planned.

But he said: “It’s an objective improvement on what we’ve had before and the fact we’re going to have it here for summer this year is absolutely fantastic.”

Councillor Sarah Free said the council probably started off “a bit starry-eyed” thinking the new playground would cost $2.5m.

But she was pleased the council was still spending enough for it to go ahead.

“We won’t be leaving another unfinished project and a hole in the city where there should be something gorgeous.”

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.