FUNDING is being sought to provide 18,000 residents of a private estate with their first park.

Despite being known as Europe's largest housing estate, Ingleby Barwick's children have nowhere to play.

Ward councillors who form Ingleby Barwick Independent Society (Ibis) have submitted a bid for £250,000 of Stockton Borough Council funding towards a recreation area to cost about £750,000.

Some members of Stockton council refused to support the bid at a full council meeting on March 1, but in the days following, council leader Bob Gibson arranged to meet with Ibis.

Ward councillor Kenneth Dixon said: "We welcome Councillor Gibson's invitation and we are confident that the scheme will come to fruition in the near future. We want to give the people of Ingleby Barwick one of the things that they desperately need."

The recreation area will have numerous areas for children of all ages, including swings, climbing frames and an area for ball games.

However, residents and children are to be consulted on what they want in the park.

Last autumn, the local councillors announced to the residents of Ingleby Barwick that they were pursuing a number of recreational facilities and walkways .

Working with officers from Stockton council, Ibis has identified that the land behind Tesco Stores, in Myton Road, running along to the rear of All Saints' School, in Blair Avenue, would be ideal for the Central Park.

The councillors have pledged to consult widely.

Councillor Ross Patterson said only a fraction of the funding is being sought from the borough council, with the balance of the money to come from charitable groups, landfill tax credits and local business.

Councillor Jean O'Donnell, Stockton council's cabinet member for arts, leisure and culture, said: "We fully accept the very limited facilities available for play and recreation throughout Ingleby Barwick, but we are constricted by the limited amount of land we own.

"Council could not agree to allocate funding to the proposed scheme, as it had not been consulted upon, costed or designed. However, we will continue to work up a detailed proposal to take out for consultation and try to secure a funding package."