VERDIN Park play area is set to be improved after Northwich Town Council secured a £75,000 grant.

Awarded by Veolia Environmental Trust, the major funding boost will be used to refurbishing play equipment and facilities in one of the town’s principal parks.

The improvements are something which the town council has wanted to carry out for some time in order to bring the play area up to date.

And the work will upgrade the standard of the facilities and bring them in line with other play areas across Northwich.

“It is fantastic that we will now be able to proceed with the first phase of the refurbishment of play facilities at Verdin Park,” said Andrew Cooper, Northwich Town and Cheshire West and Chester councillor for Leftwich.

“With the existing facilities at Verdin now feeling quite dated compared to the other parks in town, we’ve been anxious to make progress on this for some time.

“With the award of this grant, combined with developer contributions from Winnington Urban Village, we’ll finally be able to get started on this and make it something we can be proud of.”

The grant comes on the back of an earlier funding boost of £10,000 from Awards for All to improve the woodland footpath through the park.

This is alongside ongoing work undertaken by CWAC to improve the main road through the park, with better lighting and a safer surface for cyclists on the steep slope.

Kate Cernik, CWAC councillor for Winnington and Castle, added: “I am delighted to see this work going ahead and I’m sure families in Winnington and Castle cannot wait to use the new facilities.

“The town council’s plans for the park look very ambitious, and it will be exciting to see this area transform for the better over the next few years.”

It was confirmed at this month’s Northwich Town Council meeting that applications have also been made for Pocket Parks grants from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

This is in order to carry out improvement works at Burnside Way play area in Winnington.