SHIPSTON Town Council looks set to adopt ownership of another playground, despite one councillor calling for a reduction in play areas.

The town council is likely to take over the management of the playground and meadowland areas of the new Furze Leyse estate from developers Bryant Homes when boundary queries have been agreed.

The Furze Leyse play area will become the fourth in the town owned by the council and former mayor, Councillor Penny White, believes this would be too many and she would like to see the council run just two.

The play areas in Mayo Road, London Road and Queen's Avenue are currently operated by the council and on average cost in the region of £2,000 a year each to run. However, there have been problems with the Mayo Road play area, which has seen magnificent wooden play equipment sabotaged by vandals which sent costs spiralling.

At Monday's full council meeting, councillors heard that charity cash had been offered to the council to invest in playground equipment at Mayo Road. However, reluctant councillors agreed there was some risk not just because of vandals, but also because there are also plans to move the existing equipment from there onto new parkland at Station Road which the council could be adopting in the future.

Coun White said she thought it would be better to split investment into parks across two sites instead of four.

"It would surely be better to have two quality playgroups at either end of town, rather than trying to keep four in reasonable condition like we do now, which is difficult and expensive."

However, the town council now looks set to go ahead with the adoption of land at the new 135 home estate on the top of London Road, providing Bryant can solve queries over boundaries on the land and can offer the areas in a well-maintained condition.