Councillors are keen to swing into action after boosting plans for a new play area in Petersfield.

These are exciting times for children in east Petersfield as plans for a new play area at Penns Field will soon be shown to the public.

The site next to the Taro Centre is waiting for a revamp as the previous facility was removed for health and safety reasons last summer.

But a tendering process has been completed and town councillors selected a winner last Thursday after the applicants were whittled down by a panel.

Councillors Jamie Matthews, Phil Shaw and Lesley Farrow met with the PTC climate officer and deputy grounds manager on February 26 for point-scoring review.

The winning contractor impressed councillors with an initial design that offers five main zones of equipment and plenty of play options for children aged 4 to 12.

Their £140,000 proposals, which will be funded by Earmarked Reserves, offer climbing, balance, exploring and strengthening exercises, along with swings, picnic areas, benches and landscaping.

A digital public consultation will take place shortly to allow residents to have their say with excitement growing.

“Several of my residents are very keen to get this installed and put in place,” said councillor Steve Dewey.

“I would definitely recommend contractor C and would like councillors to approve it and move it along,” he added, with colleagues backing his recommendation.

Steve Field, PTC projects manager, suggested that the digital consultation would be launched “very quickly”.

He said: “We will be doing something through Facebook and will put a little bit more detail into that.

“We will want to do that very quickly so all of your residents can be out of their misery,” he joked.

“We already have some very good designs of what the play area could look like.”