New 'fully-inclusive' pump track launched in Worcester to encourage outside play
The new facility was officially opened yesterday (20 March)
A new pump track in Worcester will be key in giving children a space where they can get involved in play, a city councillor has said.
The facility in Perdiswell, next to Perdiswell Leisure Centre, officially opened yesterday (20 March), and has an area for those who are learners and a more faster track for people with more experience.
Work started at the beginning of the year in January, with the idea to create it inspired by the success of one launched by Worcester City Council in Battenhall back in 2024.
This one has been designed to be larger than that, with the council saying it has been "carefully designed to cater for all abilities" and so it is "fully inclusive and suitable for people of all ages and skill levels, whether using a bike, scooter, skateboard, adaptive bike or wheelchair, or roller blades".
Deputy leader of Worcester City Council, councillor Jabba Riaz, said: "We listened to the feedback from the first pump track.
"So the separation of a kids pump track for beginners as well as more advanced to keep it there too, because obviously the competition was absolutely fierce to be able to get on there.
"We’ve listened and we've delivered and it's a beautiful pump truck and a facility that hopefully people of all ages and abilities have to use all year."
Vice-chair of the authority's place and economic development committee, councillor Hannah Cooper, added: "It's really important to have play facilities for children to be engaged in.
"It's got so many public health benefits that we can't even quantify.
"Here they're having to negotiate all the social skills of who's going to go first and so I think it's really important for older children to have that independence as well, to be able to come here and to be able to spend time here."