'NZ's fastest slide': Kids stoked with new $1.7m Hastings playground

New Zealand's fastest slide? Maybe. What is certain is that the Hastings kids clamouring to ride the Cornwall Park slide first were suddenly among the country's fastest runners.

Mania ensued as hundreds of kids, parents and even a few councillors tested out the new $1.7 million playground on Friday morning.

Groups from the nearby Cornwall Park Playcentre and Rata Olsen Scout Group on Duke St were invited as the first kids to play on the new playground which started construction back in July 2019.

"It's really fun," Ollie Hammond, 8, said with a grin on his face.

"We have seen them making it for a long time and it's been awesome to have a go now.

Ollie Hammond, 8, left, and his brother Luke Hammond, 10, have a blast at the new playground at Cornwall Park. Photo / Paul Taylor

"I like all of it especially the flying fox, but I can't wait to get to go on the slide because that looks like that's the best thing."

The Scout group's team leader, Marc Herring, said the playground was an impressive addition to Hastings.

"Watching it come together over the last few months has been great and to see it all done it's just incredible to see how it turned out.

"When I was a kid we would play at what was probably construction sites compared to this thing."

Hastings District Council public spaces planning manager Rachel Stuart said just last week a national playground certification expert had come to the city to test it was safe.

"She said the slide was the fastest playground slide she had been down in New Zealand."

The playground has 28 pieces of equipment and up to 85 play items, which means around 325 kids can play at the park any one time.

It also has five slides adding up to 34m and Australasia's only 10m-high acorn climbing tower.

There was also a huge amount of recycling put into the project with more than 6000 old tyres used to make up the playground's safety surface.

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said it was good to see the playground the way it is now, and the area better used.

"I used to come down here with my mother as a child and to have what it is now compared to then is great and a lot of hard work has gone into it getting it here."

She even gave "New Zealand's fastest slide a go" although she wasn't told that before she went down.

"It was a great ride, I didn't know it was New Zealand's fastest slide but I could definitely feel it could be."

Kids enjoy Cornwall Park's opening of the new playground. Photo / Paul Taylor

Stuart thanked the community, including Friends of Cornwall Park for their valued input into what the playground is today.

"It's great to see what was in paper come to life and our thanks also go to the contractors, and all others involved in bringing the vision to reality," Stuart said.

"It's just great to see the park finally open and seeing all the kids enjoying the exciting new space."

Spread over eight hectares, Cornwall Park in central Hastings is the district's oldest and most established park.

It is home to the district's premier cricket ground, formal rose garden, the John Holt Memorial Display House, historic trees, the King George V Coronation Monument, the Osmanthus Chinese gardens, picnic areas with tables, and the playground.

It is also a popular venue for outdoor events including Christmas in Cornwall Park, weekly Summer in the Park concerts in January and February, and International Cultures Day.

The Cornwall Park playground is the last of the district's three premier playgrounds to undergo a major upgrade after Flaxmere Park and Havelock North's Village Green.