Community champions officially opened a new play park in the heart of the Bellamy Road estate in Mansfield.

It is the first project within a wider £7m regeneration project, known as the Bellamy Road Community Heart scheme, to build new housing and regenerate an area of the estate near Tuxford Court.

The regeneration project was co-designed with the community, including the Bellamy Tenants’ and Residents’ Association and Friends Of Bellamy, who attended the opening.

The new family-friendly play area was made possible thanks to £70,000 of combined funding, provided by Mansfield District Council and a grant from Nottinghamshire County Council’s Local Improvement Scheme to the Bellamy Tenants’ and Residents’ Association.

Work is set to start on an area adjacent to the play area to build a £19,000 Learn to Ride Cycle Track, supported by a grant from British Cycling’s Places to Ride programme and a grant from a community projects fund that the council can access through its partnership with EEM Ltd, a not-for-profit procurement consortium.

Coun Stuart Richardson, portfolio holder for Regeneration and Growth at the district council, who helped to launch the play park, said: “This estate has been waiting a long time for improvements and the residents there deserve this.

It will make a difference and improve the quality of life for everyone living here.”

Over the next 18 months an existing retail area near the park will be demolished to make way for 22 new gold standard, energy efficient, affordable rented council homes with gardens.

There will also be a new parade of shops and a traffic-calmed road connecting Thorpe Road and Egmanton Road to allow for improved bus connections.

Meanwhile, other council-run parks in the district have also had new equipment or have improvements planned, including at open spaces in Woburn Road and the Bull Farm estate in Mansfield.

Disc golf and foot golf facilities are also being added to the pitch and putt facilities at King George V Park in the town.