COUNCILLORS have said “yes” to look at possibly giving an unloved play area in Wellington a much-needed bit of TLC.

It was back in November that Cllr Chris Booth told members of Wellington Town Council’s environment and open spaces committee that the area of land at Gay Close/Parker Close was “looking very sad” and reminded him of a “post-apocalyptic scene.”

But since then Cllr Booth has thought more closely about the issue and believes the town council could do something about it.

“After the inspection of all play areas in the Wellington area last year, I reflected on what was clearly the worst of them all which was the one at Gay Close/Parker Close – quite simply because the play area has no play equipment,” he said in a report which went before the council’s environment and open spaces committee on Tuesday (January 17).

“Clearly there had been three spring rockers which had been removed some time ago leaving an odd vacant space in this unusually designed brick area, leaving it looking rather unloved.

“Whilst this is property of Somerset West and Taunton Council, I don’t believe this area will be considered for anything for a while given the current transition of the council into Somerset Council.

“This small area is rather redundant for play anyway given its proximity to play areas at Humphreys Road, which is getting an upgrade before the end of the financial year, and Jurston Lane which caters for small children.

“I believe therefore it is left to this council to take action to help improve the look of the area. I am simply asking at this point for an in-principle decision to investigate moving forward with improving this site.”

And Cllr Booth added: “Hopefully in time when the new unitary authority is ready, this is an asset that can be brought under the ownership of Wellington Town Council.

“I ultimately feel that sometimes we need to put the community first before getting hung up on which council owns what land.”

Councillors were in agreement that something needed to be done and supported Cllr Booth’s suggestion.

Cllr Marcus Barr said: “I would like to thank Chris for his work on this and let’s go forward with this.”

The council’s town clerk Dave Farrow, meanwhile, said that the refurbishment project at the Tonedale play area at Richards Close was “99.9 per cent finished.”

“There is a minor issue with a roundabout that needs to be sorted, but it should be open soon,” he said. “It’s looking really fantastic and we can’t wait to get it opened.”

It was also brought up during the meeting that some of the paths on the play areas were often found to be in a muddy condition.

Mr Farrow said: “Paths do get muddy and if we had to discuss all the muddy paths we would be here forever and a day.”