EASTLEIGH residents are set to benefit from a £300,000 investment into parks and open spaces.

A range of community improvements are set to be made to the open spaces around Eastleigh in a bid to enable younger generations to benefit from quality outdoor play areas "for many years to come".

The funding for the improvements was given to the Eastleigh Local Area Committee by the developers of the North Stoneham Park housing development, and this is being distributed across the borough.

Chair of Eastleigh Local Area Committee, Cllr Paul Bicknell, said: “This investment in these exciting projects is in addition to the new play area planned for North Stoneham Park to be completed early spring, as well as improvements to Lawn Road.

"This further reinforces ELAC’s commitment to investing in new play areas and public open spaces for our residents, enabling our younger generation to benefit from quality outdoor play areas for many years to come.”

The Pirelli Park project to turn the cable factory site into a public open space already had a budget of £225,000, but this was boosted by £125,000 from the funding to help pay for hard and soft landscaping including a new play park.

While £66,000 was allocated to building a new play park on Cheriton Road and £12,200 will be spent on repairing the zip wire and trampoline at Grantham Green Play Area, which are both set to be completed by the end of 2020.

Also, £68,000 was already spent on the play area at the Leah Gardens housing site on Woodside Avenue, which was completed in December 2019.

Finally, £3,750 of the funding will be given to The Saints Foundation to help them continue running their "Friday Night Football Project" at Places Leisure Centre, which has been successful in engaging with youngsters who are excluded from mainstream football sessions.