A CAMPAIGN by parents to create a safe play area for their children looks set to win a council's support.

Durham City Council's community services committee will be recommended on Wednesday, to lease land that the Pity Me Play Park Initiative wants to use.

Councillors will also be urged to agree to the development and to take over maintenance of the site once it is completed.

The initiative was set up after open space used by children in Pity Me was developed, leaving them with only a piece of land near the busy A167.

The initiative has set up a committee and is seeking charity status.

It hopes to develop land at The Avenue and is applying for a £5,000 grant, from the National Lottery Awards For All programme.

It initially hopes to have an area of the land seeded and fenced off by the summer, but in the longer term it wants to put play equipment on the site - a scheme that could cost about £108,000.

A report to the committee said that the parents should be leased a 1,856sq m plot of land at a peppercorn rent for ten years.

Community services corporate director Brian Spears says: "In order to apply for certain grants - eg the National Lottery - it is a standard condition that the group obtains a ten-year minimum lease, on the development land.

"The land in question was subject to a grazing licence for several years, which was terminated a couple of years ago.

The next meeting of the initiative will be held on Thursday at the Abbey Sports Centre, at 7pm. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.