A play area which was slammed as a hive for anti-social behaviour has begun a transformation this week thanks to a £150,000 boost.

Woodlands Park, in Wrotham Road, Gravesend, has been a place to play, relax and have fun for people in the borough for decades.

Unfortunately the play equipment in the 15-acre park had deteriorated, falling victim to petty vandalism and wear and tear.

Added to that, parents were taking their children to play only to find empty gas canisters, used to ingest so-called legal highs like nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas.

Last summer mum-of-three Emma Beadle, 31, said she was worried what was going on in the park could lead to a serious incident.

She founded the Revamp Woodlands Park group, which aimed to raise £10,000 to breathe new life into the park, but with 1,000 people on board, it did much more.

Miss Beadle said: “I’m so excited about this, it’s fantastic news. We’re all really happy. The council has been doing so much to try to get the money from the government but were turned down every time.”

All the money for the improvements came from Gravesham council. News of the cash injection was announced at the end of last year, and work on the park began on Tuesday.

The main play equipment area will be located on the existing tarmac, adjacent to the tennis courts.

Installed by Wicksteed Leisure, it should be open at the end of June, in time for the summer holidays.

The previous park equipment was in poor condition, but the new facility should offer more for children of every age.

Miss Beadle said: “This isn’t going to just be a park from nought to three-year-olds, this is going to be a park from nought to 99-year-olds.

“We’ve got a real community looking after this park now, thanks to the Facebook group. I go litter-picking each week and people keep an eye on things. If people are spotted letting their dogs foul, they are reported. It’s a beautiful park and we’re trying to keep it nice.”

Some of the new equipment will include a steel zip wire, a trampoline sunk into the ground, basket seat swing, rope swing, adventure trail and various slides.

Further funding – bringing the total closer to £200,000 – has also been committed to improving the toilet block, which is expected to be completed later in the year.

The play site at Woodlands Park is now closed for the works.