The Potter Street play area is open again with more than 70 play features, built on a £150,000 contract. Five more Harlow playgrounds are next in line.

The rebuilt playground at Potters Field, off Potter Street, is open, the second to reopen under Harlow Council’s playground renewal programme. The council announced the opening on Wednesday and says the new equipment carries more than 70 play features for children aged 0 to 12.

It cost £150,000. The contract record names the firm that built it: Sutcliffe Play Ltd, appointed under the ESPO 115_25 framework. The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Enforcement, Councillor Nicky Purse, signed the decision, and it was published on 5 March.

What the record shows

The report behind that decision fills in the detail the announcement leaves out:

  • the £150,000 came from the 2025/26 non-housing capital programme, and the budget was fixed before firms bid
  • because the price was fixed, the four tenders were scored on quality alone, on the play value of the design and the supporting safety paperwork
  • Sutcliffe Play scored 147 out of 166, the highest of the four
  • the old equipment was near the end of its economic life and would have had to be removed rather than repaired
  • the specification required a site usable by children of all abilities, with hard surfacing linking the equipment and the gated entrances so wheelchairs and buggies can get around

Harlow Trading Services maintains the town’s equipped play spaces and will look after this one. The council’s paperwork calls the site the Potter Street and Harlow Common play area, covering the Church Langley South and Potter Street wards; the design drawings attached to the same decision are titled Potters Field.

Five more sites are due

Potters Field follows Glebelands, which the council says opened recently with more than 40 play elements. That contract was awarded on the same day under the same framework, to a different supplier, Eibe Play Ltd, for another £150,000. Both were expected to reopen in July when work began in June.

The council named five more playgrounds for major upgrades this year:

  • Hodings Road, at Hester House
  • Katherines Playing Field, at Tithelands
  • Latton Bush Park
  • Swallows
  • Willowfield

Families were asked to help choose the equipment for those five in a survey that closed on 22 June. No contract award for any of them has appeared in the council’s published decisions yet, so no start dates are fixed.

Councillor Purse said of Potters Field: “This is exactly what our programme to transform playgrounds across Harlow is all about, taking tired and outdated spaces and turning them into brilliant places that children and families can enjoy and be proud of.”

What it means for you

The playground is open now, free, and designed for children from babies up to 12, so it is worth a look if you gave up on the old equipment. It sits on Harlow Common at Potter Street, a short walk from the Church Langley and Potter Street estates.

If something is broken or unsafe, report it to the council rather than the contractor: maintenance sits with Harlow Trading Services under the council’s contract. For the rest of the town’s parks, sculptures and free days out, see our guide to things to do in Harlow.

Sources