Thank you for the very detailed review, Andi. Like Little Jo I was surprised that the planks had a set place, although I think the slot for the shovel is fine as people do tend just to stick a shovel anywhere in a pile of sand, although maybe a steeper angle would have been more realistic.
I see it for my purposes as a great "detail" set just to fill in a corner in a scene without being essential to the scene itself. Like the other new construction sets involving roadworks it's on my list, but that, of course, is my 2009 list.