Queen Elizabeth Gardens play area in Horsell closes on Monday 7 September for about two weeks. A new roundabout, monkey bars and resurfaced safety flooring.
The play area at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Horsell closes on Monday 7 September and is due to stay shut for about two weeks while it is rebuilt.
Woking Borough Council says the playground should reopen on Friday 18 September, weather permitting. The closure lands in the first full week of the new school term, which the council says is deliberate.
What is being replaced
The council’s announcement lists three items of work (Woking Borough Council newsroom, 3 September 2026):
- a replacement roundabout
- new overhead monkey bars
- refurbished rubber safety surfacing throughout the play area
Queen Elizabeth Gardens is on High Street, Horsell, postcode GU21 4QQ. The council’s green spaces directory records two pieces of play equipment there, one rated for children up to six and one up to twelve (Woking Borough Council green spaces directory). Both fall inside the closure.
Cllr Ellen Nicholson, the council’s portfolio holder for green spaces and play, addressed the timing directly. “While the timing coincides with the return to school, carrying out the works during term time helps minimise disruption by avoiding the busy summer holiday period,” she said in the council’s statement.
Where the money came from
The scheme is paid for through Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy money, after a funding application by ward councillor John Morley. The council has not published the amount.
That funding route matters if you want the same done to your own local playground, because it is not something residents apply for directly. Woking is an unparished borough, so the council keeps the neighbourhood share of the levy itself and assesses bids against the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010. It ring-fences 25 per cent of levy receipts from development in areas with an adopted neighbourhood plan, and 15 per cent everywhere else (Woking Borough Council, developer contributions and CIL).
The council’s own published rules set out how a bid has to work:
- only ward councillors can submit an application, and they must name a project manager to deliver it
- the project must deliver new or improved local infrastructure
- it must show broad community support, which can be letters, emails, social media posts or a petition
- three quotes for the work must go in with the application, or an explanation of why they cannot
- bids under £10,000 are decided under delegated authority, normally inside five weeks
- bids of £10,000 and over go to the council’s executive committee and take at least eight weeks
Play area improvements, street furniture, local sports facilities and community building works are all listed by the council as things the fund has paid for before.
What it means for you
If you take children to Queen Elizabeth Gardens, do not go on Monday. The playground shuts from 7 September and the council’s own estimate for reopening is Friday 18 September, with the caveat that bad weather could push it back. The rest of the gardens is not listed as closing, only the play area.
The council’s green spaces directory lists the alternatives across Horsell and the town. It filters by age range and by facility, so you can check a site has the right equipment before setting off.
If your own ward’s playground needs work, the route is your ward councillor, not the council switchboard. The council asks councillors to talk to planning.policy@woking.gov.uk before an application goes in, and the eight-week committee timetable for anything over £10,000 means a bid made this autumn is a next-spring job at the earliest.
More Woking local information: bin collection days, council tax bands, parking and planning applications.
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