For a parent, child safety is paramount, whether it be in the water, around strangers, on the roads, or in the sun.

Related: Planned Recreation Precinct for Tuncurry

A number of local parents have voiced concern about the lack of shaded playground areas in the Great Lakes, saying that it makes it impossible for their children to safely enjoy the facilities.

Mother of four Candice Fanning is leading the push for change, and has appealed for help from the community and council to do something to create a safer environment for local children to enjoy the great outdoors.

“We want to get shade cloths over the play areas in any of the parks in Forster Tuncurry,” she said. 

“A lot of parents I know, myself included, don’t use the parks and don’t take our kids to the playgrounds because there just isn’t any shading over the play areas, and we want to keep our children safe.

“There’s no point in spending a whole lot of money developing our parks and outside areas without shade, it’s a coastal town, it’s hot, we have a high rate of skin cancer, we need to do something about this.”

Mother of one, Leanne Broadbent described the local parks as too hot, uncomfortable and dangerous.

“The equipment is meant to be fun, but for several hours each day in summer it is not fun and not usable,” she said.

Charmaine Neilson agreed that developing sun safety should be a priority.

“We need sun safety, this is a beach town, the playground equipment is burning hot, it’s dangerous,” she said.

“All the other coastal towns have shaded play areas for the children, why don’t we?”

Madeline Barlow-Smith called it an issue of duty of care.

“No one can take kids to the park after 11am, not only is the sand too hot, the stainless steel slides give third degree burns,” she said.

Mother of two Judy Tyler was also in strong support of the change.

“They do the campaign ‘slip, slop, slap,’ it makes sense to put shade over playgrounds, it’s far too hot,” she said.

“Kids burn themselves on the plastic play equipment heated from the sun. Every kid has to wear a hat at school to prevent skin cancer, they should include playground shade in this safety precaution against skin cancer, it just makes sense.

“In the real heat of summer it’s just too hot to take kids to the park, which is a shame.”

Candice said the issue had been brought to council in the past, but at the time the response was that there was no money in the budget for it.

“But this is about keeping our children safe, it should be a priority,” Candice insisted.

“There’s so much encouragement to get kids outside and exercising, enjoying the great outdoors, but as parents we have a duty to keep our children safe from skin cancer, and the lack of shading in the area is making it impossible.

“We want the kids to get outside and play, but how can we be responsible parents when there is no sun safe play area? We use sunscreen and hats, but that isn’t enough.

“I have a big gazebo in the backyard which is sun safe, but I want to be able to take my kids to the playgrounds, to the beach, to other kids birthday parties in the park, safely.”

Pebbly Beach recently had work done to upgrade and shade the barbecue and seated areas, and while Candice said this was a great improvement, it wasn’t enough.

“There is still nothing in terms of shading over the playground,” she said.

“We don’t want the kids to just sit around eating, we want them to be able to play.

“There is so much support behind this, but we need direction. We need to know what it is we should be doing to make this a reality. Do we need to create a petition? How can we best take action?

“If anyone has helpful ideas or suggestions, please share them with us so we can make safe public play areas a reality. My email address is cakesbycandi.b@hotmail.com.”