Excitement as new £260,000 upgrade to Pudsey Park announced by councillors

Recent complaints by Pudsey residents about the state of the play park - with run down facilities and old equipment - have led councillors in the area including Simon Seary to share the plans for a transformation of the park.

The park is one of the most popular and most visited across Leeds.

Designs have now been submitted and funding approved for a £260,000 improvement to the play park and fencing surrounding the area.

The improvements have been made possible from Section 106 funding, councillor Seary told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

He said he had been "inundated" with emails about the current state of the play park and have been working behind the scenes for many months with the Parks Department to make the changes.

A start date has not yet been set for the work but councillor Seary hopes it would be completed by the summer.

Speaking to the YEP, councillor Seary said: "Pudsey play park is a really popular attraction, with hundreds of children using it on a daily basis and we needed to ensure the equipment we choose was able to take the number of children who wanted to use it, we have doubled the number of infant and juniors swings, added the popular see saw and we are retaining the spiders web in the centre as it’s still in good order but the wooden climbing tower has passed it’s time and will be replaced with a more robust unit.

"Unfortunately Leeds council doesn’t contribute to play park improvements (unlike Bradford) and this has been funded from section 106 monies from new developments in the ward."

Plans for the park include new swings, a new roundabouts and climbing tower.

All of the current equipment in the park with the exception of the spider web will be replaced with new designs, it was confirmed.

The new designs will all be implemented within the same space as the park currently occupies - following a potential move last year which was declined.

"We don’t have a start date as yet, but we hope that will be started as soon as possible and ready for the summer.", councillor Seary added.

Pudsey residents took to social media to complement the plans.

Lauren Dyas said: "This is awesome news! We went a couple of weeks ago and it looked very old and worn.

"It’s nice to hear it’s getting a refresh."

Marion O'Donoghue added: "Can’t wait, great work."

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