£80,000 play park on the way in Lennoxtown
A NEW £80,000 state-of-the-art play park is certain to be a hit with youngsters after planners invited them to vote for their favourite design.
Lennoxtown Initiative's (LI) leisure and recreation group displayed four different playground plans in the village's primary schools and playgroup, then asked parents and children to vote for the one they wanted.
The children were invited along to the 'vote count' last Wednesday, where a design by SMP Playgrounds was named the winner.
Brian McAleenan, LI chief executive, said: "The winning design is a fully inclusive playground, meaning that it can be used by children with disabilities, and it also has senior and junior play areas.
"It has many exciting pieces of play equipment included in the design, but the one that really caught the children's imagination was a flying fox, where you hold onto a bar and swing down a cable. It was selected by virtually all the children."
Work on the project will start in May or June and it is hoped that the completed play park will be open to the community by the school summer holidays.
Tony Findlay, chairperson of the leisure and recreation group, said: "We are delighted that, as a small community group, we have been able to attract this level of funding to allow this new facility to go ahead.
"We would particularly like to thank East Dunbartonshire Council, Jim Graham of Score Environment and housing developers Lennox Homes and AWG."
LI chairman Jim Gilmour said: "The High Park is a strategic site for the development of the village's leisure and recreation provision.
"The leisure and recreation group has been very successful in obtaining grants to allow new community facilities to come into the area.
"Now that the CCTV scheme is in place we are aiming to get the new multi-use games area on site by March or April this year, followed by the new play facility in May or June.
"Overall, this represents some 120,000 of new investment in sports and play provision in Lennoxtown."
Local councillor John Dempsey said the new play park was a real good news story for Lennoxtown.
He said: "I'm delighted that this project is coming to fruition after all the hard work that has been put in by the leisure focus group.
"I'm sure this new facility will be enjoyed by many youngsters. It will be maintained by the council and the CCTV should help prevent vandalism."
He added: "As well as the new play park there's going to be a new astroturf games area installed in the next few months.
"It's great news for Lennoxtown and is a result of the various groups and organisations such as the community-led focus groups all working in partnership."
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Weather for Kirkintilloch
Thursday 24 May 2012
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