Bracknell Forest Council is set to spend over £16 million on a series of projects which include making the council ‘greener’ and upgrading play areas.

The council’s capital budget is used to make upgrades to council owned assets.

This week, the capital budget proposals for the coming financial year 2022/23 were agreed by council executives.

The £16.311m budget includes projects to renew play area equipment, parks and other council-owned assets.

Adjustments to the capital budget were made after re-assessment and consultation, following the proposals being announced last December.

Sandhurst will benefit from some of the adjustments, with funding set to be used to upgrade the Snaprails Park play area and replace the ‘Transplant Field Bridge’ at Shepherd Meadows, which alone is set to cost £55,000.

The council has argued the bridge needs to be replaced so people can continue to use the circular walk around the meadows.

A total of £160,000 will be spent on upgrading the play areas at Snaprails Park and South Hill Park, with each park getting £80,000.

Councillor John Harrison (Conservative, Binfield with Warfield), hailing the adaptations, said: “It’s quite gratifying to see some smaller projects fitted in, such as the play area renewal, we’re going to renew all the equipment for the children that play there.

“I think it’s good that we can make room for that sort of investment, so we don’t have shabby or out of date equipment for children to play on.”

A total of £300,000 will be spent on ‘borough greening and security’ which will improve people’s sense of safety by cutting bushes and improving visibility.

One of the biggest amendments to the proposal is the dramatic revision of the amount needed to install balcony safety measures at Garth Hill College.

Initially, the council was expecting to spend £700,000 on the project.

However, the predicted cost has been revised down to £150,000 – a £550,000 reduction.

The capital budget proposals were unanimously agreed by Bracknell Forest Council’s executive committee on Tuesday, February 8.

Summarising the proposals, councillor Peter Heydon (Conservative, Old Bracknell) said: “It’s a typical Bracknell Forest budget, it’s prudent, it’s well thought through, and I think it’s very positive that it’s non controversial.

“It does acknowledge that we do look after our young people, which we should be proud of, and not only are we a safe borough, we are a well kept one.”

The proposals for the capital budget for 2022/23 must now be approved at a full council meeting on Wednesday, February 23.