£100,000 campaign launched to refurbish play area

A GROUP of West Yorkshire parents have launched a campaign to raise £100,000 to refurbish a playground.

The Roundhay Playground Appeal will hold several fundraising events over the coming months in order to reach the target to refurbish the playground in north Leeds.

The £100,000 will cover the costs for replacing the current hard floor with a safer bouncy surface, redesign the existing layout, repaint and replace some of the equipment.

Roundhay Playground Appeal will begin its bid at Oakwood Farmers’ Market next Saturday and hopes to have raised the money by the end of August.

Parent Laura Webb has two children aged two and four who are regular visitors to the playground with their friends and other local mothers.

She said: “The equipment is 15 years old at least, it is tired, broken and some bits have been taken out rather than fixed and replaced.

“It is mainly used by under -sevens and the equipment is not suitable and things have moved on.

“There is nothing for children who might have a disability and if you have a toddler there are only really the swings that they can go on.”

The appeal has the backing of the local community after 1,000 survey responses were returned and 600 in just 24 hours.

The Friends of Roundhay Park have been liaising with Leeds City Council over the project since last year as the authority owns the playground facility but has no allowance for repairs.

Mrs Webb added: “There is no allocation and we have no indication when that will change and that is the reason we have taken this on.

“We will see if we can make it happen or we could be waiting.”