Splash Pad gets go ahead

Warminster Town Councillors voted unanimously to go

ahead with a new splash pad in the Lake Pleasure Grounds. The decision was made at a meeting of the full council on Monday 21^st June.

Cllr. Sue Fraser, Chairman of the Parks and Recreation

Committee said, “This is a wonderful decision for Warminster and the Lake Pleasure Grounds.   It is a significant investment that will provide another first-class facility, free to use for the people of Warminster.”

“I am really excited that the go ahead has been given to something that will delight so many people.
We have already made so many improvements to the Lake Pleasure Grounds, for example, the new skatepark, the Pavilion Café, the outdoor gym, this is another big step forward.”

The space themed design for the splash pad includes: The Sun, The Earth, planets, stars, and a rocket.  It will have 12 water features, they are: a twin tipper, a floor tap activator, a leaping arc, a peacock, an arching water fence, a rocket blast, a post activator, a spray shooter cannon, a sea squirt and three hydro blasts.

But it is not all about the ‘splash’, those who wish to paddle are also catered for in this exciting new facility.  There will be a paddling pool area with a sluice gate which will allow children to open the pool area and release the water or dam the water to create the paddling area.

Work on the splash pad is due to start in September this year, and it is expected that it will be ready to open by next Easter 2022. The water system is predicted to make a long-term revenue savings as well as reducing the environmental impact of the scheme.

Cllr Fraser added, “We had hoped to have the splash pad open by this summer, but of course Covid has delayed things.”

It is anticipated that this new facility will increase the number of visitors to the town, which will in turn be a boost for local shops and businesses.  It will reaffirm the Lake Pleasure Grounds as a destination for visitors and shoppers, helping to increase and maintain the vitality of the town centre.

The splash pad is being funded by a combination of money from the Community Infrastructure Levy, (paid by developers on new housing) The Dewey Trust and the Council’s Rolling Capital Fund

The splash pad will replace the existing paddling pool which was built in 1947.  It has been refurbished many times over the years, but it is now sadly beyond effective repair.