A BLACKBURN park will be transformed after a community group received a £40,000 grant.

The park in Peel Close will benefit from the cash after the Peel Action Committee Investment For Youths (PACIFY) was given the £40,069 from SITA Trust.

The play area is more than 30-years-old and is the hub of the community but, after years of underinvestment and the gradual removal of unsafe play equipment, children had been left with one solitary tatty climbing frame/slide combination and a damaged rubber surface full of holes.

Layla Fletcher, of PACIFY, said: “In comparison to other areas with lovely well-equipped parks this community’s children are very poorly served.

"But to their credit and quite heartbreakingly they make the most of what they’ve got for example borrowing blankets from the neighbours houses to turn it into a den.

"They never ask and they never moan which made us more determined than ever to get the site improved."

The proposed improvements will make the site suitable for children from six months old to teenagers.

Stage one of the project will be delivered and paid for by the group itself, which will start with a refurbishment of the remaining climbing frame/slide using paint donated by Crown Paints.

The grant will then provide a new wet pour surface which will go over the top of the existing surface, and new items of play equipment.

Two new gates will also be fitted in the repainted fence surrounding the play area to provide better access and egress for children and parents.

Jools Granville of SITA Trust said: "We are so pleased that this group approached us for help. Their dedication to this project is truly humbling.

"Accompanying the application were designs by local children of how they would like the new playground to look, letters about how much they enjoy using the play area and how important it is to them.

"We hope the new play equipment and surfacing proves to this group that their dedication has not gone unnoticed and to others that a community taking its destiny into its own hands can be incredibly rewarding – that good things can and do happen to good people."