A NEW £50,000 climbing play area will be built in Cam thanks to a Lottery grant and money from the parish council.

Climbing boulders will be built on Jubilee Field and will be available for youngsters to use for free.

Stroud District Council received £200,000 from the Big Lottery Fund for children's services and have added a further £56,000 to the amount.

The money is for creating children's facilities that are free, open access and unsupervised.

The project in Cam has received £25,000 of the grant and Cam Parish Council has matched this amount to cover the cost of the play area, which will be built in spring next year.

Children and adults will be able to climb over the artificial boulders, which will be around 10 feet tall and have hand and foot holes like climbing walls.

Cllr Miranda Clifton, a Cam parish councillor, said: "The boulders are part of a long-term plan to develop the Jubilee playing field so that it can be used by the whole community.

"The first phase was the skate park and trim trail and we are also planning to tarmac the paths so they can be used by disabled people."

"Children need to be challenged by play today and these boulders will be exciting to climb because they are quite high.

"It is the kind of activity that is not boring and will be testing for the children. The field is huge and it is very beautiful with stunning views so we want everyone to be able to enjoy it."

The remainder of the grant will be spent on three multi-use games areas in Nailsworth, Kings Stanley and Uplands and a skate park in Stratford.

The council will also be hiring three play rangers, who will work across the district encouraging youngsters to play creatively and use green spaces for activities.

Cllr John Jeffreys, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, added: "This is good news for all the youngsters in and around Stroud. This Lottery grant was a great Christmas present for the district."