VILLAGERS have launched an ambitious project to make the most of their community assets.

Parish councillors in Lothersdale, to the south-west of Skipton, have agreed a three-year scheme to improve the village's recreation ground and an adjoining woodland walk area.

The ground itself features a play area, a football pitch and a multi-use games area (MUGA), but it also includes a picnic area and a woodland walk with a footbridge over a beck.

Village leaders, keen to improve the amenity for residents and visitors, have undertaken a project of sorely needed maintenance.

"The play area and woodland walk have been neglected for some time, said Andrew Mallinson, the new clerk of the parish council. "The parish council authorised the removal of dead trees in the area and they are now looking at a planting scheme and refurbishment of the play area. The want to make it a real attraction.

"The first phase to refurbish the play area for health and safety reasons and later look at replacing some of the equipment."

Work on the woodland walk, which is accessed from the recreation ground, will include installing safety rails around a footbridge over the beck and clearing some of the undergrowth to make it more accessible.

"The trees create so much shade in the area that there is moss growing on the play equipment and paths," said Mr Mallinson. "This work will open the area up and allow more lighting in."

And Councillor Eddie Cullen, parish council chairman, said: "It's quite dark in there, even when it's sunny. We'd like to lighten it up and make it more friendly.

"We want to take out the old trees, dead trees and non-native species and then do some re-planting to bring it more to life.

"We'd like the work we're doing to be reflective of an English woodland," he said. "It just needs thinning out so the woodland can self sustain.

"The work will entail putting some woodland flowers in, which haven't had a chance to grow because the trees are too dense.

"We'd like to make it a nice area to walk in and make more use of it as an amenity for the village.

"It has been overgrown for a while," said Cllr Cullen. "Parts of the picnic area could also be opened up."

Other work includes doing spring planting near the entrance to the recreation ground and re-creating a hedge around one of its borders. The latter is being done with the help of the Woodland Trust.

He also said the community was invited to volunteer their time to help clear away some of the vegetation.

"We'd like to involve the community to help clear areas to make them nice for families to use," said Cllr Cullen, who pointed out that the recreation ground, including the play area, is well used by villagers and visitors.

"The play equipment has been here for some time, but the work we're doing to it would not be a wholesale slaughter.

The council has approved renovation of the play area this winter at a cost of £2,500.

"We want to clean up, paint it and do some maintenance, which will spruce it up and make it a lot more attractive."

Cllr Cullen said replacement of play equipment would not likely happen until 2018.

Tidying up the woodland by removing the old, dead and out of place trees is also likely to be done this winter.

He hopes the first phase of work will be completed by Easter, so the "amenity is improved for people's use by the summer".

Cllr Cullen stressed: "This is very much an ongoing project, and will probably take three to four years to complete."

He said the amount of work the council can do is limited to its annual budget, which is around £14,000, money that must be divided amongst other projects and improvements that need to be made in other parts of the village.

But Cllr Cullen was full of praise of the recreation ground and its value to Lothersdale.

"The recreation ground for a village this size is a fantastic thing," he said. "You don't usually get something of this scale. It's truly a benefit to the whole community."

Although Cllr Cullen said they are just starting work in the recreation ground, one project that is finished is work on the war memorial, which is located near the recreation ground entrance.

"We've completely renovated the war memorial area," said Cllr Cullen. "It's gone down very well in the community, so we're very pleased."

The work involved re-building stone walls around the war memorial.

"The walls have been moved to the side of the memorial, so people with mobility problems can get in closer to the memorial," said Cllr Cullen. "We've certainly tidied it up and made it more accessible."

Work on the memorial, paid for by Lothersdale Parish Council and a local charity, took approximately three weeks to finish and it was carried out in October, just a few weeks before services on Remembrance Sunday.