Playgrounds around Keighley are being revamped with cash from a £1 million Government pot.

Oxenhope, Bracken Bank, Steeton-with-Eastburn, Wilsden and Harden will benefit from the spending.

Bradford Council has been awarded £1.1 million from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, via the Bradford Play Partnership.

A total of 22 sites across the district will benefit from the funding by March 2011, half by next spring.

All the improvements are based on natural play and are aimed at children aged eight to 13.

The revamped Townfield playground in Wilsden has already been completed and was officially opened last week.

The scheme has been part-funded by Wilsden Parish Council.

Other projects include introducing water, light and sound to the playground at St Ives, in Harden.

A play area at Steeton-with-Eastburn is to be refurbished, Oxenhope Active Kids playground will be expanded, natural materials are being installed at Woodbank play area, in Keighley, and a new playground is being built next to Bracken Bank Community Centre.

Cllr Michael Kelly, the council’s executive member for services to children and young people, said: “The play theme is a key area of the first strand of the district’s b-someone campaign, which is about adults supporting children in developing their skills.”