A NEW £95,000 play park is a dream come true for a small community.

The Middlewood Green Action Group, which is made up of residents and councillors from St Helen Auckland, near Bishop Auckland, has worked for five years to create a new play area for village youngsters.

After years of consultation with the young people of St Helens the action group came up with a plan to create a skate park area and ball court with floodlighting. It means youngsters can enjoy playing five-a-side football, basketball and use the stunt ramps on the skate park.

At the weekend, Coun Margaret Douthwaite, chairman of Wear Valley District Council and action group member, declared the park open.

She said: "A tremendous amount of hard work has been put into this and it has been worth it. The children have worked really hard on this and everything has been done after consulting with them."

Coun Douthwaite said a special thanks to resident Stephen Morley for all the work he did to get the project started. She said: "Stephen was one of the founder members and worked very hard on this until his health caught up with him and he had to take a back seat."

The park was unveiled just days after Wear Valley District Council revealed it was closing 30 play areas.

Coun Douthwaite said: "This park is the future. Big play areas like this are easier to maintain than small ones. Children no longer want a couple of swings to sit on, they want activities."

After the official opening residents enjoyed an afternoon of sport as the young people tested their new play park.

This is the third phase of the project, which has been created in partnership with Groundwork West Durham.

Project manager Karen Emerson said: "This was just a piece of green land and the residents have worked hard to get here. The first phase was the installation of a toddlers play area in 1999."

Funding came from Wear Valley District Council and the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

Chairman of the action group Coun Sonny Douthwaite said: "This is just the beginning for us. We intend to carry on and are looking to build a youth shelter next."