Greenwich Council will launch the consultation—which will specifically focus on adventure play centres (APCs)—on Monday, November 17.
The original plan was for the consultation to be launched in the summer after the South London authority announced in February that it would be reviewing the five APCs as part of its medium term financial strategy for 2025/26.
This review initially aimed to save £400,000 this financial year, and £2.2million over the next four years.
In council documents announcing the new consultation, Greenwich has said the sites run at a cost of £730,000 per year and the council must make changes to the APC offerings as “it is necessary to make savings”.
The council is currently staring down a £45.1m budget gap which it predicts will grow to over £100m by 2028/29.
Greenwich Council hopes the consultation will help decide how it transforms the youth play offer provided by the APCs and makes them “more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable for the future”.
The authority has said there is an opportunity to make a one-off capital investment in open spaces close to the centres to make them “more accessible to more people, more often”.
The council also noted a discrepancy in the frequency of use between the different APCs.
According to council documents, in May 2025 the least visited centre was Glyndon with an average of 69 unique visitors a week compared to 273 at the most popular centre in Plumstead.
The consultation will span four weeks and aims to “engage everyone potentially affected by the proposed changes”.
It will include online surveys, a brochure outlining the proposed changes, visits to the APCs and other community centres and potentially school focus groups.
Many residents fear the APC review could result in some of them being shut down to make savings.
Greenwich Council has been presented with several petitions calling upon the authority to guarantee the centres remain open since the review was announced in February.
The council has not confirmed whether any of the centres could close as a result of the review.
Lara Ruffle Coles is part of the Save Greenwich Adventure Play Centres campaign group.
She said: “Whilst we welcome yesterday’s announcement given the consultation was originally going to launch in the summer, we continue to be disappointed that the council is conducting the consultation in the run up to Christmas, and that it finishes mid December.
“It should be running into the New Year when families are less busy with Christmas events at school and at home.
“However, we look forward to engaging with the survey once it launches on Monday, and we will be encouraging as many families and residents as possible to fill in the online version, and to participate in the consultation events the council will be running.
“We will also be running our own events at the play centres themselves to promote the consultation, and we will be attending the full council meeting on December 3 to ensure our voices are heard.”
Once Greenwich Council wraps up the public consultation on December 14, it will conduct analysis of the responses and prepare a plan on what it aims to do with the centres going forward.
A report on the plans will be presented to the Cabinet on January 21, 2026 where a final decision will be made.
- Coldharbour Adventure Play Centre
- Glyndon Adventure Play Centre
- Meridian Adventure Play Centre
- Plumstead Adventure Play Centre
- Woolwich Adventure Play Centre
