A scheme to upgrade a playground has been given the goahead, just three months after it was nearly scuppered.

The project, at Cononley Playing Fields, has been in the offing since December 2008 when district councillor Mark Wheeler (Lib Dem, Aire Valley) met a group of residents interested in improving the village’s recreation ground and play equipment. The group formed a committee that went on to secure £140,000 in funding – £49,000 of which came from Playbuilder, a programme set up by the previous Government to create 3,500 play spaces for eight to 13-year-olds across the country by 2012.

In July, as part of its national spending review, the Department for Education halted the Playbuilder grant, which Coun Wheeler said could have jeopardised the project.

But the funding has now been reinstated and North Yorkshire County Council has said it will continue with its programme of creating 18 new play spaces across the county.