Grave choice for playground

Schnapper Rock Reserve is the perfect venue for a playground. But not everyone agrees. Sophie Bond explains
The memorial park on Schnapper Rock Rd is a place for quiet reflection; the lawns are neat, the headstones meticulous and the flowers tasteful. But the rolling lawn is also a magnet for local children who come here to kick a ball around and to ride their bikes.
Local woman Judith Coyne says Schnapper Rock Reserve, just a stone's throw from the cemetery, would be a perfect playground - if only it had equipment there to play on.
For two years, Mrs Coyne has been asking North Shore City Council for a playground in the reserve. Her latest request was for a simple rope swing. But even that was denied.
"It doesn't seem right that the council spends $4.1 million to buy a house in Mairangi Bay and then knocks it down and they can't give me a bit of rope," she says, adding that
 there are many children in the neighbourhood but no close
playground.
Seven-year-old Olivia Cowie enjoys going to the reserve with her grandmother but she'd love to have "a swing and jungle bars" to play on.
Mrs Coyne's daughter, Jackie Cowie, says her daughters learned to ride their bikes on the memorial park's quiet paths but she'd rather they play in the reserve. "I think it's a bit disrespectful for the kids to be playing over here by the graves."
Last month, the council opened two new playgrounds in Albany, both within a couple of kilometres of the reserve; one on the corner of Pin Oak Drive and Oakway Drive in Tall Oaks and the other on Schopolo Place in Schnapper Rock.
Albany Community Board chairman John McLean says the board is sympathetic to Mrs Coyne's request.
"But, given the catchment, a playground at that end [of Schnapper Rock Rd] may not be well placed. The council parks department has a policy of putting playgrounds in where they will get the maximum amount of use," he says.
He says under safety requirements it's unlikely a rope swing would be authorised.
The board has asked the council for a playground.
This will be recommended to the new local board  after November 1.
Hard road to fun
Mrs Coyne and Mrs Cowie say it is difficult for families from their side of Schnapper Rock to reach the new Schopolo Place playground because there's no footpath on a stretch of Schnapper Rock Rd.
Mr McLean says people are forced to walk on the road and the Albany Community Board has been pushing the council for a path for two years. "Whilst council has  signalled it will remedy this section ... there's still no time frame as it's in the lap of the new council now."