Phase one at Johnson's Field is open, with a hare sculpture nodding to Cowper's pets. A zipline and trim trail for older children follow by spring 2027.

The first phase of a £375,000 play area at Johnson’s Field in Olney is finished and open. Milton Keynes City Council announced the completion on 21 September.

Olney is a market town north of Milton Keynes. Olney Town Council puts it about 12 miles from Milton Keynes, Bedford and Northampton alike. Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority for the town, and the town council maintains the open spaces.

The centrepiece is a giant hare sculpture. It refers to William Cowper, the poet who lived in Olney and kept three pet hares, Puss, Tiney and Bess. The rest of this phase is aimed at younger children, with a climbing frame and slide and a rotating seesaw.

The money came from Section 106 contributions, the payments developers make towards local facilities as a condition of planning permission.

What phase two will hold

The second phase is for older children and is due by spring 2027. The council has not published a description of it, but the design already exists in public.

Olney Town Council published the council’s landscape drawing in June. It is numbered 144.2022.03.C9, drawn by Milton Keynes Council’s landscape architecture team and dated June 2026, and it sets out the proposed junior and teenage play area.

Phase two at Johnson's Field, Olney: equipment and age ranges from the council's own drawing

The equipment marked on it, with the age range given for each:

  • a Robinia zipline, age 5 and over
  • a Robinia trim trail, age 5 and over
  • a combination swing, age 3 and over
  • a net spinner, age 2 and over
  • a carousel hopper, age 3 and over
  • an Oxygen Mini unit, age 3 and over
  • a multi goal end, age 3 and over
  • an outdoor workout unit, age 3 and over
  • a hammock, age 3 and over

A picnic table and bench and a bench seat are also marked, along with new trees, tarmac footpaths and a play mound. The surfacing is a mix of resin bound gravel, grass matting and wetpour.

One thing is not in it. The drawing states that no works will be carried out to improve the skate area at this stage, and that this “will be a future phase if progressed”. Anyone hoping the skate ramp gets attention alongside the new equipment should read that as a maybe, not a plan.

What the council said

Councillor Kerrie Bradburn, cabinet member for environment, is quoted in the release:

“We’re delighted to see the first phase of the Johnson’s Field play project complete and already being enjoyed by families. Play areas are vital community spaces that help children stay active, develop confidence, and spend time outdoors with friends and family.”

The council says it has spent almost £2 million on refreshing, upgrading and expanding play areas across the city in the past five years.

What it means for you

Phase one is open now, so there is nothing to wait for if you have younger children, and it is free. Johnson’s Field is one of nine open spaces Olney Town Council maintains, separate from the Recreation Ground on East Street and its play park. Until this work, the town council’s own parks page described Johnson’s Field as having “some play equipment, plans are afoot to expand on these”.

Two rules apply across the town’s open spaces. Olney is covered by a Public Space Protection Order banning drinking alcohol in any public space, and the town council asks people not to light barbecues on the fields.

If your children are older, the useful date is spring 2027, and the useful caveat is that the skate area is not part of it.

If you want to know what is being built near you and what developers are paying towards it, Section 106 agreements are attached to planning permissions and are public. Our Milton Keynes planning news page tracks the decisions, and things to do in Milton Keynes lists more free days out across the district.

Sources