YOUNGSTERS in a Teesdale village are celebrating getting a £50,000 play area.

The Evenwood Welfare Area playground is the first of 12 in the district to be refurbished by SureStart.

The playground, for children under four, is linked to one for older children and is part of work taking place at the welfare area, which includes a multi-sports pitch and a BMX track.

The play area was designed and developed by local people working with Evenwood and Barony Parish Council and Groundwork West Durham.

Tim Rounce, from Groundwork, said: "We've been working with the community to find out what they want. One of the things that came out of that was the playground was getting quite dangerous and was badly in need of repair."

Gillian Quille, SureStart Teesdale programme manager, said: "We are really pleased and this is only the beginning. We hope to get many more play areas throughout the district.

"The idea for this play-area is to provide things for all ages, and that way the older children won't vandalise what is there for the younger ones."

Funding came from Sure-Start, Barclays Sitesavers and Single Regeneration Budget funding.