VOTING has opened in a competition which could see a Newport community group handed £25,000 for a new playground.

The Pride in Pill group has applied to the Aviva Community Fund for a grant towards its plans for a new play area in Mendalgief Road, next to St Michael's School on a site formerly know as 'the wreck.'

And now voting has opened in the competition, which will hand out thousands of pounds to hundreds of projects across the UK.

The plans being developed by Pride in Pill, a dedicated volunteer-run community group committed to improving the area in a range of ways including clearing up fly tipping and maintaining public spaces, will see a new play area replace the tired and run-down park off Courtybella Terrace, which has been plagued with littering, drug-taking and other problems.

Paul Murphy from the group, which was formed in November last year and has since run more than 50 events and received four prestigious awards from organisations such as Keep Britain Tidy and the Water Council for Voluntary Action, said: “We are looking at getting it done within the next year.

“But it does take time to get funding and planning permission and so on.”

The group has also applied to the National Lottery’s People’s Project scheme for a £50,000 towards the new playground.

Mr Murphy said he was looking at all avenues of possible funding for the project.

“The more we get the more we can do at the park,” he said.

Pride in Pill announced its plans for the park last month, saying drug users would be deterred by having a volunteer warden on site at all times and locking the gates between 7am and 10pm.

At the time Mr Murphy said he hoped it would be a safe and enjoyable area for youngsters.

"It would be safer for the kids and it would be on a bus route like Tredegar Park and Belle Vue Park," he said.

"There's lots of people going into the current park and injecting drugs - we see needles there all the time."

A shortlist of applicants for the People’s Projects scheme will be announced by Friday, December 9 and each project group will be interviewed during February next year. A further shortlist will then be drawn up and the public will be able to vote on which project should get the funding in March and April.

To vote in the Aviva Community Fund competition visit community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/16-196 before Friday, November 18.

For more information on the People's Projects scheme visit thepeoplesprojects.org.uk.