By Katherine Turner
Leeds City Council has released the results of a consultation into the location of the new playground in Western Flatts Cliff Park in Wortley.
It will be built at the top of the park near the now defunct changing rooms.
As reported in WLD a public consultation asked the local community to choose between two sites at the top and bottom of the park. The results are in and 564 people chose location two at the top of the park while 303 chose location one at the bottom of the park.
It has taken a long time to get to a point where construction of the new playground can begin after more than 1,000 people signed a petition back in 2021.
Neil Bonnington, Chairman of Friends of Western Flatts Cliff Park, said: “We have been waiting a long time for the new playground at Western Flatts Cliff Park and it now feels like we are moving closer to it becoming a reality.
“Through numerous discussions in the community we felt that it was important that there would be a choice and the Friends group worked hard with LCC and the playground provider, Kompan, to review the possibilities and help with putting this consultation together.
“We are looking forward to the installation phase starting and will keep the community updated with the timelines. I’d like to say a big thank you to all who took part in the survey and it’s great we have had a democratic choice for the location and games from the community.
“I’d like to thank Richard Stringer on our committee for his tireless efforts in preparing the consultation with LCC and also all the councillors for supporting the process. We also need to acknowledge Thuja Phillips at the parks department for all of her work in preparing and concluding the survey.”
Councillor Mark Sewards (Lab, Farnley & Wortley) is happy to have a way forward at last. He added: “I’m so pleased that we’ve completed the consultation and now I’m just as keen to crack on with the construction. I want to thank the Friends of Western Flatts Park for all their input and the parks department for agreeing to prioritise this work for us.
“Councillor Adrian McCluskey and I will continue to do everything in our power to get this playground built.”
The playground also has the support of Councillor David Blackburn (Green, Farnley & Wortley).
A start date has yet to be announced, but will be reported through WLD as soon as this is decided.
Sponsored content
