A CHILDREN’s play area is to be given a makeover after a community group was granted £162,000 to make improvements.

Friends of Snig Hole Park - also known as Helmshore Memorial Park - will use the money to install new equipment and improve drainage at the site, off Helmshore Road, in Helmshore.

They will work with Proffitts, a Haslingden-based community interest company to bring about the changes by the end of the year.

The Lancashire Environment Fund (LEF) has provided a £30,000 grant, while the other £132,000 has been secured from section 106 funds connected to two nearby housing developments.

Yvonne Cox, chair of the Friends of Snig Hole Park, said: “I’m absolutely delighted at how quickly eveything has happened.

“We only became a constituted group last May and it’s fantastic that we’ve got funding in place already.

“We sent out 500 questionnaires to residents last October and asked what they thought were the priorities for the park, and made alterations to the design based on the feedback.

“We have tried to reflect what the community wanted in the designs, and to now have the funding in place to make them a reality is amazing.

“Now we can move forward to deliver the improvements, so the community can start to make better use of the park.”

The work will include a new path linking the park’s war memorial with the play area.

Martin Proffitt, of Proffitts CIC, praised the Friends group. He said: “It was recognised that improvements to the park were needed and the group have worked hard to get the project to this point.

“It’s great that the money necessary to carry out the work has been secured in such a short time. ”

Contracts for the project will be put out to tender next month, and it is hoped work will start on the scheme in July, with September the earliest possible completion date.