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Children's playground fire causes £100k of damage

News imagePaul Galley A large mock-up of a ship in a playground with a burnt out gap in the wooden walkway to it. Blue plastic near the slides has burnt and drops on to the ground. A bigger playgorund for older children and houses can be seen inthe background.Paul Galley
The blaze burnt through plastic and wood at a playground in Anchorsholme Park

A "devastating" fire has destroyed equipment at a children's playground in a Blackpool park, causing an estimated £100,000 worth of damage, a councillor has said.

Councillor Paul Galley told BBC Radio Lancashire it was "painful to see" the damage - including burnt plastic and wood - at Anchorsholme Park, which occured overnight.

"I'm absolutely gutted - most of all for all the kids in the area because they just lost their big special play piece.

"It's like you can't have anything nice without people trying to destroy it so I'm really upset," he added. "We've got to work out how we're going to replace this."

Mr Galley said he was working with police and appealed for anyone who had information to contact local authorities.

Lancashire Police said they were called at 00:30 GMT and had launched an investigation into arson following the incident.

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