Play park in Clayton Brooke sees £50k makeover

The Great Greens Lane playing area, built about 20 years ago, was in a state of such disrepair that parish councillors decided it needed to be ripped out and replaced in its entirety.

Since it was finished in Spring hordes of children with their parents have been seen enjoying the space.

It has even proven such a success that Clayton-le-Woods Parish Council, which paid for the facelift, has even had to increase the number of times the litter bins are emptied at the site.

Roy Ormston chair of Clayton-le-Woods Parish Council said: “Over 20 years ago the parish council took a decision to pay for the area’s play parks using the precept.

“The Great Greens Lane playing area was the very first one to be put in and we’ve got about six now.

“The last one we did was the skate park.

“There was a rolling programme of repairs for each park every five years but this seemed to have been abandoned.

“To my mind saving money by not improving the area is a false economy so we put together a specification and had this one ripped it out and replaced because it was in such a bad state.

“We increased the tax precept in the financial year of 2016/2017 to pay for it because we have had so many complaints about it.

“We went there the other week and it was absolutely heaving with kids.

“We’ve even had to increase the number of times the litter bins are emptied because its been so popular.

“It’s nice to see kids coming along with their parents and their parents sitting in the sun.

“We’re really pleased it’s been such a fantastic success.

“We’re now hoping to update another play park by the end of next year.”

The official launch of the fully refurbished park took place on Thursday, May 31.

Clayton-le-Woods Parish Council has a host of events coming up this year with Clayton in Bloom, the Scarecrow Festival and the Summer Fair in the coming months and its annual Christmas Lights Switch on event also takes place during the countdown to the festival season.