About the space

First Avenue Reserve is located on First Avenue in Seaton in a residential area. It includes a playground, shelter with picnic setting and seating, entry footpath to shelter and the playground, and an open space area with irrigation and perimeter fencing.

Dogs can be exercised in the reserve area off-leash (under effective control) but must stay away from the playground area.

The playground is a 'Neighbourhood' playground. Neighbourhood playgrounds should have good quality 'standard' play equipment, an appealing landscape, and may include some special play features for young people to enjoy.

What's happening?

We are replacing the entire playground in First Avenue Reserve from late-2025. We're doing this because the equipment is old and should be replaced to ensure its safe and meets your needs, and the needs of future residents.

The new playground design is complete. Your feedback and sharing how you love to play helped us to make decisions about what equipment and features to include, and what it would look and feel like.

There's still a bit to do before we can start replacing the playgrounds. We expect we will start removing and replacing the existing playgrounds from late 2025/early 2026 and we will do our best to have them completed by end-June 2026. We will share an update with project followers and participants when we're getting ready to start work.

To find out what we asked you to share when feedback on the current playground was open, and things in the playground (or reserve) that we don't consider in a playground replacement visit the First Avenue Reserve playground engagement page. On this page, you can also see some examples of other recent playgrounds replacements we have finished across the City that could be similar to what we can do at First Avenue Reserve playground.

Click on the plans below to see them in a larger view. If you are interested in reading about how we made design decisions for this playground, you can read the First Avenue Reserve Playground Design Checklist which explains how the playground has been designed for everyone and all the things that were considered.

We asked you to share who you visit the reserve with and why.

We asked how you like to play, your favourite play activities, and what you like about the playground now and what you would change about it.

You also shared which was your favourite playground from images of recent playgrounds we have replaced, shared your theme ideas for the new playground, and anything else about the playground or reserve that you would like us to know about now, or to consider in future if we are making improvements.

Other comments and requests

• Top comment theme was that this reserve is often used for dog exercise. It was the highest reason for people visiting this reserve and was often mentioned in the feedback. Some commented how they value this space for dogs, and others comment that improvements to are needed to better manage dogs.
• More play variety for children of all different ages. Tall forts and towers, climbing opportunities, big and little slides and swings, as well as imagination play like nature play and role play were popular requests.
• Preference for a natural, eco-friendly look and natural, sustainable playground materials like wood elements, with some colour and brightness.
• Request for more trees/shrubs to screen neighbouring properties.
• Concerns about littering, and also safety with comment that people gathering after-hours.

Opportunities for future reserve improvements:

• Dog bag dispenser
• Separate animal exercise/fenced area
• BBQ area
• Drinking/water fountain
• More shelter and shade
• Playground shade structure
• Bigger fence or maintain the existing fence (eg make it enclosed/higher)