THE regeneration of a Darlington housing estate has received a further boost with the opening of a £40,000 play area.

The Firthmoor estate has been given a complete facelift in the past 18 months, paid for with more than £3m from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget (SRB).

The play area at Holgate Moor Green was developed after extensive consultation with local people, who wanted a new and safe site to replace the old play area.

They were given the opportunity to choose a design from eight proposals put forward by Darlington Borough Council, which has partly funded the work on the play area.

In addition to the play area, a teenage shelter has been provided away from the main children's play equipment.

This provides a sheltered area for older children to congregate without disturbing others. It will be monitored by closed-circuit television cameras in the hope of reducing vandalism.

The Mayor of Darlington, Councillor Dorothy Long, opened the new play area.

She said: "The development marks the first very visible sign of the regeneration programme for the estate.

"On one of the main routes into the area, the park symbolises the rebirth of the estate which will be taking place over the next five years."

Councillor for the estate, Councillor Bill Dixon, said: "This is another part of the jigsaw for Firthmoor. Because of the close consultation with residents this is truly their site.

"After all, there is no point in doing something without finding out first if that is what the people who live there want."

Chairman of the Community Partnership Board, Bill Cook, said: "Residents have been involved from the very beginning and can now see and enjoy the end result."

The Single Regeneration Budget funding was secured over five years. Work on demolition of more than 300 substandard homes on the estate has already been completed.

A further £2m will be spent to build a primary school on Firthmoor, after a successful bid by Darlington council to the Department of Education's targeted capital fund.