YOUNGSTERS in a Teesside town are to get a £10,000 play area thanks to their local town council.

The play area at Butt Lane, on the Whitby Avenue estate, in Guisborough, is the second to be funded by Guisborough Town Council in a four-year programme to improve facilities in the area.

At a meeting of the town council on Thursday night, Councillor Anne Franklin said: "This is an excellent job and is something good for the town. I am really, really pleased to see it come to fruition."

Councillor Dave Punshon said it was especially pleasing because the council had not raised the precept for the town.

He said: "It shows what can be achieved by doing things rather than talking about it."

Council chairman Brian Whiteley said: "We can all take a pat on the back for what we have done."

The council decided its main project for the next four years would be the development of the town's four play areas, at a cost of £10,000 each.

There has been a scheme for older children at the King George V playing fields, and there are plans for another play area at the site of the former Kemplah Primary School.

The choice of the Whitby Avenue estate play area was a response to the concerns of residents that existing facilities were run-down and under-used.

The new play area will target children under six, and will feature traditional-style swings, slides and roundabouts. It will also have modern, purpose- built surfacing.

It will be run in association with Guisborough Play Development Forum.

The forum's Tricia Goldring said it was "absolutely brilliant".

"We live in an area which is perceived as being well off," she said.

"We have tried to get money from every source, but it is closed off to us because we are not a deprived area. All the money is, quite rightly, being channelled into deprived areas, and it has been frustrating."

The play area is expected to be completed on April 6