An online petition calling for a children’s playground in Bacchus Marsh drew 52 signatures of support in its first week.
The petition, created by mother-of-two Jasmine John and calling on the community to support the push for a new playground in the town’s Essence estate, went live on Change.org last week.
“As far as we know, there is no playground scheduled to be built in the estate within the next three years,” Mrs John said.
“This installation of a children’s playground at the allocated reserve on Parkside Avenue will give many of the families in the estate a place to play, relax, entertain and meet other local families … to help build a friendly and welcoming local community here in the Essence estate and the surrounding Stonehill estate.
“It will be a great addition to our estate and make the reserve a much more usable space for all members of our local community.”
Mrs John with her husband and their two daughters, aged four and five, moved in 18 months ago.
“We’ve lived here long enough to know that we really could use a playground in the area,” she said.
“With it being quite a new estate, many of us built our homes and have not yet had time to landscape the backyard, so we actually don’t have backyards.
“It would be wonderful if we could have a playground at the reserve down the road so that we don’t have to walk all the way to Stonehill to use the one there.”
Many local residents also expressed their support in signing the petition on Facebook.
“We live in Essence estate with two young children,” one poster wrote. “They need a communal place to visit and congregate with other local kids safely.
“We moved here for the community feel and, as we await other families to move in, there is limited space for them to play.”
“I really hope this can happen,” another wrote. “There are currently quite a few kids who play outside in Porter Avenue, mine included.
“With Essence only going to get more built-up, with more cars on the road, it would not only be fun for the kids but safer, too.”
