Exmouth play area gets £100k spruce-up

And councillors (nearly) get first dibs!

Exmouth little ones cheer loudly! Those stuffy grown-ups at the council have stumped up a hundred grand for a playground.

The bad news is: they've got their hands on it first! 

After 30 years without a tart-up, the Redgates play area was rather down at heel. It now has a new lease of life following £100,000 worth of improvements. The council says Exmouth's children are loving it - and so, no doubt from the picture, are the councillors.

But they did ask youngsters what they wanted, and their shopping out included a ground level trampoline, swings, a slide, climbing and a roundabout. They also asked for a pirates and castles theme.

Cllr Stuart Hughes, Chairman of East Devon District Council, who declared the play area officially open, said: "It's far better than when I was a youngster when you got what you were given, but they've got what they wanted and it's going to be a great asset and a lot of youngsters are going to enjoy using this facility, so long may it continue."

Cllr Geoff Jung, East Devon’s portfolio holder for the environment, said: “This large play area was looking very old and parts of it were becoming unsafe, which is why we allocated £100,000 to renewing it. It’s great that it’s now being well used. Some of the children now playing on the equipment can say that they helped design the play areas they’re having fun on.”