PLANS to build a new £120,000 play park for children in central Newquay have certainly sprung into action.

Newquay Town Council is due to start constructing an environmentally sympathetic play park in Mount Wise Gardens sometime during the summer.

Cornwall Council has agreed to devolve part of the space to the authority including the adjacent garages, which is due to happen by the end of the year, but they will be permitted to start work before that agreement comes into effect.

The town council has ring-fenced a further £20,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding on top of the £50,000 already secured from the funding pot.

The Boardmasters Foundation has pledged it will provide £50,000 of funding towards the project.

The town council will be consulting children from Trenance Learning Academy to see what play equipment they would like to see installed.

It is expected the play park will be constructed by the end of autumn.

Mayor Drew Creek said: “We have got an agreement from Cornwall Council that they will devolve the parcel of land on the Mount Wise Gardens to the right-hand side of the path as you walk down from Mount Wise including the garages.

“There is also an agreement that we can break the ground before the devolvement.

“The land should have been devolved by now but hopefully after the Cornwall Council elections on May 1 it will be.

“The parcel of land is due to be coming over to the town council by the end of the year but that does not stop us from building the play park.

“The town council plans to build an environmentally sympathetic play park so there will not be lots of plastic.

“It will also contain the existing landscape there. We will keep as much treescape and greenery as possible.

“We have seen antisocial behaviour in the area because of a lack of management.

Cornwall Council has not been cutting the grass there or trimming the hedges and allowing camping there

“By devolving the land to the town council, we can manage it better.

“We will be managing the area in a different way as one of our assets.

“We will be breaking the ground over the summer and would like to see the play park built by the end of autumn.

“We will be talking to the children at Trenance Learning Academy because the park would be next door to where parents get parking permits for school pick up and drop off.

“They will be the primary users so will be asking them what they want.

“Hopefully the play park will also increase the take up of parking passes and reduce some of the parking around the Mayfield estate during drop off and pick up times.

“Some of the garages have existing tenants and the town council is happy to keep them on. If there are vacant garages, we need to get them rented out as well.

“This really is an exciting development for Newquay. It will be the first play park for central Newquay.”