RESIDENTS in Belthorn have moved a step closer to getting a long awaited new play area for the village.

Hyndburn Council is seeking the £50,000 funding needed to create a new area for children on the recreation ground.

Proposals for the site are being drawn up and a meeting is being planned in November for residents to have their say on what should be included.

Coun Brian Walmsley, council cabinet member for culture and leisure, told a meeting of Oswaldtwistle Area Council said: "I have made two priorities for the coming year - the changing rooms at White Ash playing fields and Belthorn play area.

"They are two projects I am pushing for providing I can get the funding."

Speaking after the meeting ward councillor Marlene Haworth said it was great news for the village.

She said: "The residents have been trying to get a play area there for years.

"Belthorn has been left out in the past, it has taken a low priority because it will only affect about 200 children, where as other play areas in more built up areas of the borough might be for 2,000 children.

"But hopefully we are putting that right with this scheme.

"It does depend on the budget, but we are also looking at other ways of raising the money."

She added: "The current play area on the recreation ground is awful and it is unsafe.

"It is not fit for children to use and needs to be completely replaced, which will cost around £50,000.

"The residents do such a lot of themselves through the village committee, they ask for very little from the council, and I feel that they deserve our support in getting this play area."

Council leader, Coun Peter Britcliffe, who is chairman of Oswaldtwistle Area Council, said: "We really have to look at different ways of getting funding in for this kind of scheme."