Residents wait for the council to swing into action over play area

By Chinwe Akomah
Brown Lees residents have said they are "fed up" with waiting for work on the play area in Newpool Terrace to start. Staffordshire |Moorlands District Council said the work would be completed by September, three years after it had earmarked £70,000 for the project. Brown Lees and District Community Association accused the council of dragging its feet. Chairman Graham Swift said: "We were getting concerned about the continual putting off of the finishing date. We are getting quite fed up. "We have taken the bull by the horns and written to the council asking for answers. We want to know what is going on and then we can put it in the public domain." The association said it that given the council two weeks to respond to the letter. Arnie Swithenbank, the council's parks and countryside service manager, said the project would be put out to tender "imminently". He added that it had always been the intention to do the work this year: "When the programme organised set out it was in 2007 but would always be a phased programme of work." Community association chairman Graham Swift said: "The Newpool Terrace play area, which is being revamped and due to be reopened later this autumn, was evidence of the sort of projects the association should contribute to." The play area will have equipment suitable for children aged from five and under to aged 13 and above. The revamp is part of the national strategy set out by the Government to improve play facilities for children and is one of seven such revamps taking place across the Moorlands. Funding for the Brown Lees play area has been secured from section 106 agreements under which companies that have been allowed to build in Biddulph give money towards community projects.

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