COMMUNITY is the focus of a group of Slimbridge parents aiming to revitalise the village’s “tired” play area.

Formed at the end of last year, PARCS (Play Area Regeneration Committee of Slimbridge) is aiming to upgrade the existing play area to encourage exercise in younger communities whilst also breaking down social barriers.

The group will be attending next week’s Annual Parish Meeting at the village hall where members hope to gain more views and input on their plans.

Although plans have yet to be finalised, the group is expecting a revamp of the facility to cost in the region of £100,000 and fundraising has already started.

Lucia Scollazzi-Davies, a GP, said that for a while after first moving to the village she did not know that there was a play area.

“I moved from Winterbourne to Slimbridge three years ago and one of the things I noticed was that play areas are generally better there than they are here – for a while I didn’t even realise there was a play area here,” she said.

“It’s rather tired and doesn’t keep kids’ interests so I thought it could be good to try and get it upgraded.”

PARCS is made up of five parents from the village who have been consulting on the idea for the past few months.

Pupils at Slimbridge Primary School have been invited to take part in a competition to design a play area or piece of equipment to feed back into proposals for the play area whilst also introducing a sense of ownership of the equipment with children in the village.

Lucia added: “The ultimate goal is to produce a play area which will encourage children to want to use it.

“We want for children after being picked up from school to use the play area – as well as being fund it will be a bit of exercise as well as breaking down social barriers which do exist in the village.”

A bridge ordinarily links the school directly to the play area but is broken, although proposals are in place to repair it.

It is hoped that once this is done pupils will use the play area after being picked up by their parents before going home.

More information about PARCS’ plans is available at slimbridge-pc.gov.uk/parcs-play-area-regeneration-committee-of-slimbridge

Slimbridge Annual Parish Meeting will take place at Slimbridge Village Hall on Monday at 7.30pm.