Volumes of Coastlands children turned out last week to have their say on proposed upgrades to their local playgrounds.

Whakatāne District Council is supporting Piripai Coastlands Beach Community Collective with its community plan, which includes a proposed playground upgrade, said Ian Molony, open spaces operations manager.

Mr Molony said the council had limited funding available within existing budgets to contribute towards the project, but exact amounts had not been confirmed.

“Council will support the Piripai/Coastlands Collective to raise external funding for this project.”

A community event was held on Tuesday at Fisherman’s Reserve to allow the community to vote on the features they would like to see and use.

Mr Molony said feedback gathered would help to inform the next steps and future decisions.

Popular choices – as marked by stickers – were a parkour course, a flying fox and a hamster wheel.

Shade sails, water fountains and toilet facilities were also highly voted for.

But the biggest winner of the day was a pump track for bikers.

Coastlands dad Casey Box said he thought upgrading the playground was an awesome idea and well overdue.

He liked that suggested changes would appeal to a range of different age groups.

His son, Brady Lynskey-Box, was particularly excited about the parkour course, which his sister Charlotte Lynskey says she suggested.

Mr Box was keen to see the whole reserve utilised.

Andrew Chandra Raj said his family moved to Coastlands when his children were aged one and four.

His children enjoyed the existing playground then, but now that they are five and eight it’s not as much fun.

He thought it was a brilliant idea to update it.

Sasha Cessford enjoyed seeing all the different ideas being suggested, how they catered to different age groups and that it was child-led.

She said another mum with younger children suggested fencing off just one part of the playground so her kids could play safely, while older children could enjoy other areas of the park.

Children of all ages played games like red light, green light on Tuesday.

Ms Cessford said she noticed older children looking after the younger ones, and she thought it would be great if that was the kind of play the upgraded playground could foster.

Consultation is also underway on proposed upgrades for the playground in Alpha Avenue Reserve.