AFTER months of wrangling, a new £300,000 play area for Holywells Park has moved a step nearer today.An application to build the facility, which replaces the dated metal structure in the historic green space, has been handed into Ipswich Borough Council planners.

AFTER months of wrangling, a new £300,000 play area for Holywells Park has moved a step nearer today.

An application to build the facility, which replaces the dated metal structure in the historic green space, has been handed into Ipswich Borough Council planners.

The funding for the facility has been in place for more than two years.

The new play area will be situated in the centre of the park and not in the Leaf Yard as first planned, after parents and The Friends of Holywells Park group raised safety concerns.

They said the area was damp, dark and too close to the car park.

Leisure chiefs originally claimed retaining the area in the centre of the park could have a detrimental effect on the Heritage Lottery Fund bid, which could see several million pounds restoring the park to its Victorian splendour.

They feared Saxon or Norman remains could be buried beneath the play area.

However, a time team-style dig failed to detect any settlement, paving the way for the area to be built in the same central location.

The full application, which has been submitted by the council's leisure department, includes a nine foot tall pyramid climbing net, a pirate ship, swings, picnic tables and a shelter.

There is also a wet play area, which will act as a replacement for the now defunct but popular paddling pool.

There had been hopes the pool could have been refurbished but the cost made it unviable.

What do you think of the proposals? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

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