Play Area, MUGA and Court Surfacing for Parish and Town Councils

Last updated October 2026

Play and Sport Surfaces quotes and carries out surfacing work for parish, town, district and borough councils across the UK: play area safety surfaces, MUGA resurfacing and relining, tennis court cleaning and new courts. Real council papers show MUGA resurfacing at about £36 per m2 and a wetpour patch at £120. Every quote is fixed price and itemised, so it can go straight into a committee pack.

The prices other councils have actually been quoted are public, so here they are in one place.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Real contractor quotes in council papers, UK (VAT basis as the paper states)

Job	Council and date	Quoted price	Basis
MUGA resurface, 713 m2, 35 mm porous multisport surface	Wickham Parish Council, Feb 2025	£24,000, £25,903.75 and £26,400 (three firms), about £36 per m2	plus VAT
MUGA relining after resurfacing	Wickham Parish Council, Feb 2025	£600 per sport, or £1,250 for the court	VAT not stated
Wetpour patch repair by swings	Wem Town Council, Feb 2025	£120	VAT not stated
Wetpour overlay under a carousel	Wem Town Council, Feb 2025	£1,700	VAT not stated
Bonded rubber mulch, play area	Wickham Market Parish Council, quotes from 2021	£60.75 and £84.39 per m2	as quoted
Rubber grass mats, 102 m2	Wickham Market Parish Council, 2022	£2,225 (about £21.81 per m2)	as quoted
Three tennis courts: moss and algae treatment, then rotary deep clean	Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, 2025	£450 and £1,950	plus VAT
Car park lining, about 37 bays	Wickham Parish Council, Feb 2025	£625 to £1,270	as quoted

How do parish councils usually buy surfacing work?

By comparing written quotes against their financial regulations. The NALC model regulations, which many councils adopt, ask for three fixed-price quotes above £3,000 excluding VAT and three estimates between £1,000 and £3,000. Above a tender figure each council sets for itself, often around £60,000 including VAT, the job goes to formal tender, and awards over £30,000 including VAT are published on Contracts Finder.

Our quotes are written to slot into that process: a fixed price, a named surface specification, a VAT line, and a validity date the clerk can put in the minutes.

What should we ask every contractor to quote on?

The same specification, or the comparison means little. For a MUGA resurface, ask each firm for the surface type and thickness, whether the old surface is planed off or overlaid, and the relining as a separate line. The Wickham quotes all priced one 35 mm porous multisport surface on a 713 m2 court, which is why they landed within £2,400 of each other.

For play areas, ask for the total depth and the critical fall height it is tested to, so every quote meets the height of your equipment. The critical fall height guide explains what to check.

Can CIL money pay for play and sports surfaces?

Often, yes. Parish councils receive 15% of Community Infrastructure Levy money from development in their area, or 25% where a neighbourhood plan is adopted, and it can be spent on community facilities. Receipts left unspent after five years may have to be returned, so a surfacing project is a practical way to use them in time.

Councils can also apply to Sport England’s Movement Fund, which lists the public sector among eligible applicants. The guide to funding sports and play surfaces covers each route.

Patch, resurface or replace: how do we decide?

Start from the inspection report. Small splits or lifted edges in wetpour can be patched for a few hundred pounds, as Wem found; a surface worn through across a whole zone needs an overlay or a new surface. A MUGA whose base is sound but whose top is worn is resurfaced, while one with a failed base needs rebuilding.

See wetpour repair and MUGA resurfacing for what each option costs.

Do you build new MUGAs and play areas for councils too?

Yes. A new fenced and floodlit macadam MUGA is benchmarked at £190,000 excluding VAT by Sport England, and smaller courts cost less. See MUGA pitch construction and play area design for what a new build involves.

Can work be timed around park use and the school holidays?

Yes. Play areas and courts are busiest in the summer holidays, so councils often ask for spring or autumn dates. Your quote gives the time on site, and the area is fenced off and signed while work is under way.

What does the council get at the end?

A handover pack for your asset register: the specification as laid, the areas and depths, product details and any test results. That gives your annual inspector a baseline and your successors a record of what was done.

What’s included

• Site visit and measurement of the area
• Fixed-price written quote with specification, VAT line and validity date
• Removal or preparation of the existing surface as quoted
• New surface, repair or overlay, with edging and making good
• Line marking where listed
• Signage and fencing off of the area during works
• Handover pack for the asset register

What’s not included

• VAT, shown separately
• Play equipment repairs, unless listed
• Fence and goal repairs, unless listed after the survey
• Planning or other consents, where a new MUGA needs them

Illustrative example

Built only from the Wickham figures in the table, not a real job of ours. A parish council with a worn 713 m2 MUGA compares three quotes for a 35 mm porous resurface at £24,000 to £26,400 plus VAT, then adds relining at £600 for each of two sports. Its committee budget is about £25,200 to £27,600 plus VAT, which is over £3,000 and so needs three written quotes under the model regulations.

Who does the work

Play and Sport Surfaces is a WeDo Property Services service. Alex Winser runs each council job from the first site visit to handover, answers the clerk’s questions in writing, and the surfacing teams do the work on site.

Often needed alongside

Most councils pair resurfacing with an annual inspection, and many add a planned maintenance visit each year so small faults are fixed before they become big ones.

FAQs

Will you attend a council meeting?

Ask when you enquire. We can answer committee questions in writing before the meeting.

Can you quote to our own specification?

Yes. Send it with your request and we price it line by line.

How long will a quote hold for a council meeting cycle?

The quote states its validity date, so the council can approve it within that period.

Do you register on Contracts Finder?

Councils publish opportunities there; tell us where your notice is and we respond to it.

Can you quote for several play areas at once?

Yes, each area as its own line, so the council can phase the work.

Do your council quotes include VAT?

No. VAT is a separate line on every quote.

Sources

• Wickham Parish Council, Recreation Committee document pack, 27 Feb 2025
• Wem Town Council, Contractor quotes (agenda item 14), Feb 2025
• Wickham Market Parish Council, Play area report, Aug 2022
• Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, Annual Review of Tennis addendum, 2025
• Sampford Courtenay Parish Council, Model financial regulations (NALC 2024 template), May 2025
• North Yorkshire Council, Community Infrastructure Levy and parish councils, read Oct 2026
• Sport England, Movement Fund, read Oct 2026
• Sport England, Facility Cost Guidance Q4 2025, published Feb 2026