Children in Oxford are set to benefit from a new playground costing £75,000.

The equipment, which includes swings and slides, will be located in Bernwood Road, Barton.

Work is due to start next month and most of the equipment will be aimed at youngsters aged between eight and 13.

Ian Sheppard, Oxford City Council’s deputy parks manager, hopes the facilities will rejuvenate the parkland after the council was forced to remove its old play equipment last year for health and safety reasons.

He said: “The plans are very exciting — it’s a great opportunity for the estate.

“The new playground will be located in the centre of the park and consist of an embankment slide, cableway, single-point swing, bird’s nest swing, rotating disc, rotating ball, toddler play unit and springboard.

“We hope work will be completed by the end of March, weather permitting.”

Residents are being consulted on the plans, but Mr Sheppard said there had not been much feedback.

He said: “We sent 250 residents a questionnaire with details of the proposed location of the playground and proposed equipment.

“We also had a display in Barton Neighbourhood Centre for a week, again with questionnaires available.

“So far 10 per cent of the questionnaires have been returned, all in favour of our proposals.”

The project is being funded by Oxford City Council’s £2.5m refurbishment programme for municipal parks and £2.5m allocated to Oxfordshire County Council by the Government to upgrade county playgrounds.

Barton is also set to get to the city’s first purpose-built adventure playground as part of the county council’s package.

County Hall said it had yet to choose the exact location for the facility, although it would be “designed to serve the entire estate” and completed by March 2011.

Sue Holden, secretary of Barton Community Association, said the investment in the estate was long overdue and thanked the city council for taking action.

She said: “There’s not a huge amount for kids to do on the estate, so it’s fantastic. People won’t be able to complain in the future.”

Cuddesdon Way in Blackbird Leys, Edmonds Park in Didcot, Southern Town Park in Abingdon, Kilkenny Lane Country Park in Carterton and Wood Green in Banbury, have also been allocated funding for 2008/09 as part of County Hall’s investment programme.

tshepherd@oxfordmail.co.uk