THE first pieces of equipment have been lowered into place as part of a £450,000 park redevelopment.

Three huge climbing rocks costing £30,000 were delivered to Oakeys Fields in Stanley yesterday.

They were shipped in from France, but were a day late after getting delayed in ferry workers' strike in Calais.

The stones - each weighing more than two tons and three metres high - have a rough surface consisting of reinforced concrete, and are covered with a 5cm jetcrete "skin" to help climbers grip.

Head of leisure at Derwentside District Council, Nick Wiggins, said: "They are manmade rocks and specialist pieces of climbing equipment that are not made in this country.

"It is part of wider plan to improve play areas in Stanley, and having done some consultation, this is what we came up with.

"They children we spoke to wanted somewhere they can play football and basketball, but also want to have somewhere to do an activity, so we chose climbing."

Work began preparing the land two months ago, and the district council has big plans for the site. It is going to install a children's play area, a multi-use games area with facilities for football and basketball, as well as security cameras and car parking.

The site was chosen for development after the authority carried out a public consultation exercise about which space to develop.

Kings Head playing fields were the number one choice, but Durham County Council has indicated it might want to build a school there.

Oakeys Fields came second, with View Lane Park in third place.

The council has controversially agreed to sell off a third of View Lane Park to a developer that wants to build a centre for adults with learning disabilities.

It has also granted planning permission for the centre, prompting outrage from community groups which want to save the land from development.

North Durham MP Kevan Jones has asked the Government to "call in" the council's decision to grant planning permission and raised the issue at a debate in the House of Commons.

The council has commissioned a landscape artist to draw up plans for the remainder of the park.