Alright, I’m a bit cynical about many things… and particularly about things planned by Nottingham City Council where they (or someone close to them) declares that a new initiative or development will be the best in the world.

I therefore view the recent Evening Post story about the prospect of video game designer Keita Takahashi planning a new playground to replace the somewhat outdated one at Woodthorpe Park, with a degree of scepticism.

Keita Takahashi: I wonder if he designed that hat?

Mr Takahashi is famous in video games circles for his innovation in design and so, as he is in Nottingham for the GameCity festival, the City Council has invited him to work on designs for the new playground at Woodthorpe. But, as GameCity director Iain Simons admitted, he has never worked on designs for a park before.

I also read with some concern that Mr Takahashi intends to design the playground for adults, children and dogs. Call me an old stick-in-the mud but, in my experience, children’s playgrounds and dogs are two things that should always be kept apart… unless you’re not too bothered about your kids getting toxicaris and going blind.

But the final detail that fanned the flames of my glowing cynicism was the declaration by the City Council that a ‘landscaping expert’ will help Mr Takahashi with the designs before the council decides how much it will cost. 

This raises two issues: If he needs the advice of a landscaping expert, how much does he really know about designing playgrounds and shouldn’t the budget for the park be set before the designs are done so that Mr Takahashi is working within pre-set limits?

I sincerely hope that the result of this collaboration is a new playground that the kids will love and that the City Council can afford.  But, I fear it could end up as just another PR stunt where the photo and publicity opportunities for councillors are more important than the public service benefits of the finished project.