PARENTS are to be asked to help resurrect a dated playground after concerns people are voting with their feet and taking children elsewhere because it's "boring."

But Bedale Town councillors were warned it could cost well over £100,000 to update the play area in the grounds of the town's historic Hall. A group of local youngsters is already working on raising money to replace the skate board park because they say it is out of date and not challenging enough.

Councillor Amanda Coates told fellow councillors:" I have had a lot of people approaching me and saying they don't go to Bedale park anymore because it is boring. We are losing people because they don't want to use it.

"If you go to other areas such as Morton on Swale, near Northallerton they have built a new play area, they got lottery grants, and money from Tesco's and Yorventure etc. 

"It's really good and seems very well used. They had a play park committee with parents which raised around £120,000, the Parish council provided £40,000.

"We really need to extend Bedale playground, some parts of it such as the tube slide is just out of date and people don't like it.

"It's hard to see the children going through it, and different age groups go in different directions, we need to get rid of it, that is why we are losing people."

Cllr Malcolm Young said: "We need to reach out to parents to see if anyone wants to take this on.

"We could have picnic tables so people could sit and watch the children, at the moment it's hard to keep an eye on children in the different areas of the playground."

Council Clerk Charlie Hart said there was also a problem in that there were three gates to the play area which is fenced off to stop dogs going in.

Cllr Mike Barningham added: "There is a wider issue because the skateboarders are looking at creating a new site, this could be a much bigger project."

The new park at Morton-On-Swale was built to be fully accessible with something for everyone no matter what age or ability. It includes a sensory garden, a willow tunnel and dedicated areas for teenagers, adults, children and toddlers.

Bedale town council is responsible for the hall playground and park, which is owned in trust by the community but any work to improve or change the site has to be agreed by the Beresford Peirse family, the original owners of the hall. Councillors are to explore encouraging parents to look at ways of developing the park.