STOURPORT Town Council hopes to gain ownership of a play area in Worth Crescent in order to purchase and install new play equipment.

The council has passed a motion agreeing to begin negotiations with Wyre Forest Housing Association (WFHA), which currently owns the land.

Money collected from the former Bewdley Road Morgan Advanced Ceramics site, paid to the council to reduce the impact of a new housing development, could be used to fund the project.

Independent Community and Health Concern councillor Jim Parish told the town council he envisaged a gift of the land from WFHA.

He said: “The money we could use is collected from Stourport and should be spent on the people of Stourport.

“It’s the local children who need the benefit of a playground rather than the people who visit us on a Saturday and a Sunday.

“We cannot spend the money there if the land is not in the control of Stourport Town Council."