Thursday October 16th 2025
Play area in North Berwick Lodge Gardens which is set to be updated
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
An East Lothian play park will get a new upgrade including a pirate ship and wheelchair friendly carousel after a public consultation on its future.
East Lothian planners have given the go ahead for equipment at the play area in North Berwick Lodge gardens to be updated and replaced with more accessible and exciting new items,
Using Scottish Government Play Parks Renewal funding, the local authority took their plans to the public for ideas and feedback on how to create a new adventure space for children of all ages.
The new plans include 20 new structures or pieces of equipment including a man o’war ship complete with rope ladders, accessible stairs, a treasure chest, and cannons, a ‘wobbly bridge’, and accessible see-saw, jumpers and carousel.
The council said the aim of the new park is to provide a “challenging, exciting and inclusive play space for toddlers to teens (age range 0 – 15) to play and hang out”.
Asking local families to get involved in the consultation ahead of designing the new park they said: “The feedback we receive will help us to ensure that the new play area will represent local views and meet local needs as best as possible.
“We may not be able to provide everything you would like to see, but we’ll do our best to include as wide a range of new play experiences as possible, for a range of ages and abilities.”
Giving the new park planning permission, council officers said that although it is in a conservation area it is replacing an already established play park in the lodge grounds.
They said: “As proposals include for the upgrading and enhancement of an existing playpark on land defined for recreational and amenity use, they would be appropriate to their setting and would not prejudice or result in the loss of open space or amenity grounds.”
And they said the equipment was designed to ensure there was something for all ages and abilities, including disabilities.
They said: “Particular items including the wheelchair carousel, inclusive swing seats and inclusive trampoline are suitable for children and young people with disabilities. The ‘Five Way Swing’ meets requirements as social space particularly aimed at older children including teenage girls and there are also more challenging play items including the cableways and cargo netting which are aimed at older children and teens.
“Play items aimed at toddlers are also included.”
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