Thornton Pocket Park has now been in use by the local community for over a month. The feedback has been so positive and I know that as a community you are thankful for the involvement of your Parish Council in bringing the park to your community. It all started off with a public outcry that the old play park was to be removed. There was a collective action by local residents who contacted us asking for assistance. At that time there was an opportunity for funding from The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to install play park equipment – Pocket Parks Plus. Cllr Danny Wood collated information and presented a proposal to Pelton Parish Council to bid for the funding. Pelton Parish Council agreed to provide funding of £6000, County Councillors Alison Batey, Colin Carr pledged funding of £1000 each and County Councillor Danny Wood pledged funding of £6000 from their Neighbourhood Budget Allocation. The go ahead was given to apply for the Pocket Parks programme and Cllr Wood completed all of the paperwork by the deadline of 25th January 2019. The waiting game was finally over on 4th March 2019 when the funding had been agreed. Taylor Wimpey agreed to transfer the land to the Parish and waive their legal fees. The Land Registry prioritised the transfer of the land so that it could be installed during the school summer holidays and Barrie Alderson of Durham County Council pulled out all the stops so that the play equipment was installed on time. So it all started with community collective action, a Parish Council who fully supported the opportunity of the Pocket Parks Plus Funding, a Parish Councillor, Danny Wood, who provided his time to submit all of the paperwork culminating with the assistance of Taylor Wimpey, Barrie Alderson and the Land Registry who understood the importance of a play park within the community.

There will be a meeting of Thornton Pocket Park Advisory Committee in the near future to discuss further improvements to your park-date to be confirmed-we hope to see you there.