AN ALTRINCHAM park which has had a £150,000 facelift has been officially opened to the public.

Extensive consulations were carried out with residents living close to John Leigh Park in Oldfield Road and an innovative design competition was staged involving hundreds of people and local schools.

The winning design by architects Sprunt, was selected by a shortlisting panel including representatives from the Friends of John Leigh Park.

Designed around the concept of a river, the play area includes a pole forest with climbing nets, a large slide, a basket swing, a rope bridge, a series of roundabouts and spinning items, a large see saw and a series of bouncing, rotating and balance beams.

The scheme is predominantly timber in order to complement the park's character, and includes a new footpath which represents a river ‘flowing’ through the space and improves accessibility, while other landscape features such as mounds, shrubs and boulders have been added to emphasise the river valley concept and promote natural play.

Executive councillor Jonathan Coupe said: “This project is a real example of how the community, the council and its partners can work together to make ideas to improve our parks and green spaces come to life.

“It’s really important we provide high quality play areas for children in Trafford, both to develop their social skills and keep them healthy.”

The play area at John Leigh Park was funded through planning contributions from the Urban Splash Budenburg Haus Projekte on Woodfield Rd.

Already this year, John Leigh Park has been awarded a silver Greenspace Award - partly judged by park users themselves through the GreenSTAT online public opinion survey. It’s hoped these latest improvements will help to secure a gold award next year.