PARENTS and teachers at Christ Church School in Bradford on Avon are celebrating after winning a four-year battle to have its playground resurfaced.

Wiltshire Council has finally agreed to resurface the whole of the playground during the school summer holidays, instead of half of it as originally planned.

The school has been fighting to have a new surface laid on the hard surface of the playground and large raised cracks removed.

Mum Meg Cooper, whose son Joel seriously injured his knee in a recent fall, said she was delighted the entire playground surface is now to be replaced and that it appears that Joel’s accident has prompted Wiltshire Council to act.

She said: “The playground is in a bad state of disrepair with large raised cracks and a poor surface that causes extensive damage when children fall over.

“My son Joel fell in the playground and sustained a nasty cut. He had to go to hospital for treatment, currently cannot walk, is in considerable pain and is missing school.”

Mrs Cooper said Wiltshire Council has been aware since 2015 of the dangerous condition of the playground, after a parent and volunteer netball coach, who is also a PE teacher, contacted them to express her concerns and ask for funding to resurface it to be made a priority.

She added: “The whole thing requires resurfacing in order to be safe before any more children get hurt.”

Neil Baker, headteacher at Christ Church Church of England School, said: “The safety of our pupils is our top priority and we were sorry to hear that this accident took place.

“Our first aid team were on hand immediately to provide assistance. As a precaution we have cordoned off the affected area.

“Over a period of time we have been exploring the options available to us to make improvements to the playground.

“We are delighted that we have recently had confirmation from Wiltshire Council that they will be funding it to be completely resurfaced over the summer period.

“We are sure our pupils will really enjoy the new playground when they come back off their summer holidays and we’re looking forward to it being well-used for many years to come.”