Arsonists have got into a rough and tumble children’s play area and torched a strawbale building that was just a week away from being finished.

With help from a grant and an eco-friendly build company, volunteers at The Big Swing community project in Eccleshill have spent the last two months working on the new indoor space for youngsters.

But just before midnight on Thursday, arsonists got through gates and a big fence to set fire to a tarpaulin covering the building.

Part of the unfinished roof and a corner of the building was destroyed in the blaze that took firefighters an hour to tackle.

The adventure park is a registered charity and Big Swing workers were believed to be just a week away from finishing the project.

A new fence had just been put up around the park, but the project leaders might now be looking at stronger deterrents.

No-one from the Big Swing project wished to formally comment about the Arson attack.

Firefighters from Idle and Rawdon were called to The Big Swing just before midnight, a crew member said: “It’s just taken one match and one minute probably to do all that damage.”

The idea of the Big Swing is to get children more active, away from computer games and out in the open air.

Children, aged seven to 15, using the site are from Ravenscliffe estate with others from Thorpe Edge and surrounding areas. It was set up in 2004 by Bradford Council.