A plan to build a new £75,000 play park has been supported by the parish council despite concerns from villagers.

The park, which will provide a public space for ‘older children and teenagers’, will be built by Acorn Property Group at the Cross Farm housing development in Wedmore.

The development is expected to open this autumn.

Approval comes after months of campaigning by parish councillor Polly Costello, who spearheaded a charge to bring a new community space to the area.

Cllr Costello originally pushed for a larger play park, with a half-pipe skate ramp and outdoor gym equipment, to be built on land off Worthington Close, behind the free car park in Cheddar Road.

However, the plan was amended to stave off antisocial behaviour concerns from Worthington Close homeowners.

The park at Cross Farm will include a zip wire and goal ends, as well as equipment aimed at younger children, such as a seesaw, springie and free-standing slide.

Cllr Costello, who also hopes to add bike ramps, climbing equipment and a shelter to the finished development, says the park will benefit ‘the whole of the community’.

She said: “It has not been an easy journey and it is not the community park that I would liked to have seen built in Worthington Close.

“However, the park will finally provide our older youths with something to do and somewhere to go, as well as younger children and adults.”

The park has met with a mixed reception from villagers, some of whom question whether there will be enough parking to cope with the influx of visitors drawn to Cross Farm by the park.

One person said: “It is reasonable to expect locals to drive to the facility. The planning application makes no mention of parking either on the site of the development or at the play park itself.”

Another added: “To site a play park far away from the centre of the village does not make sense.

“This is an ill-thought-out scheme which does not serve the Cross Farm housing estate or the village as a whole.”

Sedgemoor District Council’s planning authority will make a final decision in the coming months.

The park will be managed by Wedmore Parish Council.