Horncastle Town Council says yes to playground re-furb

An annual inspection highlighted the need to replace the multi-play unit in the playground off Coronation Walk.

Councillors stress there are no safety issues with the equipment but much of it is old.

The total cost of the refurbishment is £15,034.

The town council has already contributed £3,250 with other funding coming from the Freemasons (£200), Tesco Bags of Help (£2,000), Lincolnshire Playing Fields Association £500), George Jobson Trust (£5,000) and the Larkfleet Community Trust (£3,000).

Town clerk Amanda Bushell has confirmed that despite those contributions, there is still a shortfall of £1,084.

Speaking at last month’s town council meeting, Mrs Bushell thanked the organisations who have supported the refurbishment.

She confirmed some of the grants were not as large as the town council had hoped for while some applications had been unsuccessful - including one to the Screwfix Foundation.

Mrs Bushell said she had ‘exhausted’ the list of potential grants and that left the town council to decide whether to make up the shortfall.

She told councillors: “We contacted various organisations. Unfortunately, we didn’t get all the money we had asked for.”

Coun Matthew Wilkinson said he thought it was important the town council made up the deficit.

He said: “We have raised a lot of money from external funds. Let’s do it.”

He was supported by Mayor Coun Brian Burbidge whose proposals to contribute the outstanding £1,084 received unanimous backing.

The money will come from the £31,385 the council has earmarked in reserve for ‘open space’ expenditure.

The council is proposing to spend £30,000 on kick-starting the new recreation park facility off Prospect Street but there will be enough left for the Coronation Walk project.