Major improvement works costing £300,000 started at Harborough's Welland Park on Tuesday last week with old equipment being removed.

And the firm building the new area – Nottingham-based company Proludic –was keen to show residents, through the Mail, what will eventually take shape at the site.

The revamp at the Harborough District Council-owned park will include new swings, slides, a 'sensory' area, sandpit, water play area and agility and obstacle course.

For older children there will be an aeroskate unit, climbing pole, rodeo board and other equipment.

Councillors and officers behind the project say it will "confirm the park's status as one of the best in the country".

Money for the project has come from various sources and the funding is broken down as follows:

* £100,000 from 'Section 106' money (money paid from developers to council's for projects to mitigate the effects of their developments on the community). This has come from the developers behind the Morris Homes apartments at Springfield Street, Harborough.

* £35,000 from Harborough District Council's capital fund.

* £85,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.

* £80,000 from Market Harborough and the Bowdens Charity.

It is being built on the site of the older play equipment, some of which is thought to be about 40 years old, at the Farndon Road end of the park.

The Mail revealed news of the plans in November last year but the idea was first mooted following a survey sent out in the summer of 2006 to 14,000 town homes asking for people's views on the park.

It is hoped work might be finished in time for the summer holidays.

A delighted Cllr Michael Rook, Harborough Council's portfolio holder for environmental delivery, said: "By using landscaping and planting additional trees we aim to make the play area feel part of the wider park and really fire children's imaginations by giving them the means to enjoy more inventive play.

"There is also plenty of seating and bins and the area is fenced round its perimeter to keep out dogs. The networks of paths will make all areas accessible and the variety of surfacing and changes of levels will add to the overall effect."