YATE councillors have raised £148,000 to fund the refurbishment of a play area and introduce skate-boarding facilities to the area.

Plans for the refurbishment of the Witches Hat play area, on Westerleigh Road are progressing and the council hope the work will be completed within the next four months.

The refurbishment at the play area was suggested after the council commissioned a youth survey 2013 and discovered that one of the strong desires which emerged from the young people involved was for additional wheels play facilities, including skate boarding, BMX and scooters in South Yate.

Yate Town Council hope the development will be completed by April, once a provider has been officially appointed and further consultations can take place for work to begin.

The total cost of this development is around £148,000 in total and the council has secured £100,000 of funding from South Gloucestershire Council from the New Homes Bonus, with the remainder coming from a variety of sources.

Councillor John Ford, who has led the project, said: ' We've spent over a year working with young people and residents to design exactly what they wanted - to make sure we use the money effectively".

"The play area is owned by Yate Town Council. The new scheme will add to the current equipment at this well used play area. It will include new fencing between the play area and nearby housing, an entry level skateboard circuit, new equipment for toddlers, a sandpit and teen shelter.

"The biggest call from young people was for skateboarding - for younger users, Peg Hill is too far away for beginners to travel so we've worked with users to design a local entry level scheme."

The development of the plans for both the skate park and the refreshed play area were developed in conjunction with local residents and park users across a total of six informal consultation events.

Residents attended a number of meetings with town council members of the Play Areas Steering Group to feed into and help hone the plans which include the inclusion of a small entry level skate circuit, new toddler equipment set into a sand pit, a teen shelter and a fence around the park which can be locked at night.

In early 2004, the Witches Hat Play Area was refurbished with new equipment, and access routes were improved. Some of the equipment caters for wheelchair users. In addition, a kickabout/basketball area is located adjacent to the play equipment.

Weather permitting, the development is planned to be completed by Easter.