TEENAGERS have come together to fight for more facilities for disabled children in parks.

They realised many families had been left without access to green space after a spell of volunteering at the Blind and Deaf Association in Blackburn as part of their National Citizen Service work.

The team of 13 aged between 15 and 17 called Parks4Disabled started an online petition which they aim to present to Blackburn with Darwen Council.

It calls for more play equipment for those with disabilities and improvements to disabled access More than 100 people have signed it and it has received backing from several disabled charities and youth MP Harry Bithell.

Group member, former All Hallows Catholic School pupil Hannah Murphy, 16, from Leyland, said: “We heard stories about families who had to travel miles to find a suitable park and were shocked to find that even the newly refurbished Witton Park has no disabled facilities and poor access in its play park.”

Alltogether Club founder Lizzie Toms, whose group provides activities for disabled children and adults said: “People don’t seem to realise that a simple activity such as going for a picnic in the park just isn’t possible unfortunately for these families which is massively unfair.”

Youth MP Harry Bithell said: “I think it’s an important campaign and I hope that the council will look into the possibilities of making parks more friendly for those with disabilities.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council said that they were unable to comment until the petition had been formally submitted to the council.

The petition is at: www. change.org/enGB/petition s/parks-for-disabled-more-parks-around-blackburn-area-for-disabled-children.