Saturday 7 October 2015: We couldn’t have asked for a better day to re-open the Salisbury Reserve playground in Herne Bay.

This is the fourth playground upgrade that the Waitematā Local Board has completed this year. The design is created to evoke children’s imaginations – to take them on a journey from the coast, through the trees and to space. The playground sandpit has some hidden secrets for discovery by children: there are ‘fossils’ in the concrete base which they can dig to find.

These openings are one of my favourite parts of my local board role: classic, core council business that ratepayers are generally happy to see their rates go towards.