Work to refurbish Cavendish Green will begin this week thanks to a major investment by the parish council.

The park next to Bexley Walk in Park South is being given a £24,000 makeover after South Swindon Parish Council agreed p'ans to improve the area and make it easier to maintain.

Councillor Chris Watts, South Swindon Parish Council’s chair, said: “The parish council is looking to provide some much-welcomed investment into Parks with this refurbishment.”

Plans to enhance the space include removing all the raised shrub beds, as well as the rotting wooden railway sleeper walls and the large stone boulders which are considered to be a risk to children.

Coun Watts added: “The current layout of Cavendish Green was originally put together by Swindon Council in 2015. While there are some nice features, it was poorly designed and in only five years there are many parts to the green that are broken, failing or difficult to maintain.

"The green has a lot of untreated timber which makes it easy to rot, there are areas of grass very difficult to maintain and the large boulders are a potential hazard for young children.”

The large stone circle in the middle of the park will also be filled in with a hard, permanent granite-coloured resin and in the centre of it two Amelanchier trees will be planted among some bark.

All the patio areas will also be weeded and repointed to prevent regrowth. The gravel areas will all be removed and replaced with turf.

“The parish could have left the landscaping as it is as it hasn’t been in place for long,” added Coun Watts.

“But it wouldn’t have been fair on residents. So we will make sensible changes in order for the green to be safe, durable and easy to maintain for the future.”

He added: “On top of the changes we’ve announced we hope to eventually improve the play equipment as well once funding becomes available from future development.”

Swindon Walcot Community and Parks Group have an additional £700 Refresh grant to help support the parish’s costs, and plan to use it for planting around the edges of the site after the major work is completed.

“We hope this investment will eventually be followed by investment from Swindon Borough Council, which needs to make the improvements promised to residents at Cavendish Square,” said Coun Watts.

Last year a petition was handed to the borough council calling for it to buy back the square so problems with it could be fixed.