Leading international outdoor leisure company Go Ape has been given planning consent to create a new attraction in the park that’s suitable for children aged six and above - as well as brave mums and dads. 

This new family friendly facility will be sited around the park’s adventure playground and complement the £250,000 of play equipment installed there by the council last summer.  

The high wire course will incorporate some of the playground’s taller trees and offer people a thrilling and challenging leisure experience lasting between one and three hours. It will employ state-of-the-art safety features under the close supervision of fully-trained members of staff.

Go Ape already operates at 29 sites in the UK, with more planned overseas and six in the USA. The Battersea Park course, which will be the first of its kind to open in central London, is expected to be hugely popular with people enjoying birthday celebrations and other special family events.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Sarah McDermott said: “This is an exciting proposal which will give people yet another good reason to visit Battersea Park.

“The equipment that the company will be using to create its treetop platforms and high wire obstacle courses is specially designed so that it does not harm or damage the park’s trees in any way. This was a really important consideration for the committee when we were making this decision."

Children’s services spokesman Cllr Kathy Tracey said: “This has the potential to be one of the borough’s most exciting and popular leisure attractions.

“It will offer young people and their parents a really fun-packed, challenging and confidence building activity they can enjoy together. I suspect it will be the first thing that many local children opt for when their parents ask them what they want to do on their birthdays.”

Go Ape’s business development manager Ben Davies added: “We’re really excited with the plans we have for Battersea Park and that we are now in a position to make them happen.

“Battersea Park is a really iconic location with a great family atmosphere and it’s the perfect location for people to come and enjoy the kind of high quality outdoor leisure attraction that we will be putting together. This is great news for people of all ages who want to enjoy a really exciting and different day out in the park.”

Go Ape estimate that the venture will open in the early part of 2015 and provide up to 20 full time and part time jobs for local people. For more information about the company and the activities it provides visit http://www.goape.co.uk/