A FYLDE action group are hoping to get by with a little help from their friends after launching a £500,000 fight to improve their local playing fields.

Park View 4U was launched in style with local kids, parents and residents sending out an 'SOS' to anybody willing to help transform the site at Park View, Lytham.

The group -- led by local mum, Catherine Powell -- aims to turn the park's existing "water-logged" facilities into a haven for youngsters and their families.

Among the dozens of new facilities they hope will be included in their 'masterplan' are an all-weather sports pitch, a large children's play area, skate park, public toilets, picnic benches and a 'hang out' shelter.

The group also hope to get Park View's existing fields drained and a BMX track made safe along with a cycle route from Park View Road along Mythop Road towards schools on Ballam Road.

Catherine said: "These facilities should already be provided in a town like Lytham.

"However for years the children of this town have had to put up with three swings, one slide, a rickety rocket-shaped climbing frame and a permanently waterlogged field.

"It seems ironic that Lytham has become one of the most popular places for families to live. They must get a shock when they actually move here and find that there are no public play facilities for children.

"The planners allow major housing developments such as Cypress Point but do not insist upon the provision of play areas, merely useless open spaces.

"Consequently you have lovely duck ponds but no playground. The only children allowed to play at Cypress Point are the ones set in bronze depicting children at play!"

Catherine says inspiration for Park View 4U came from a group of women who recently raised £100,000 to improve facilities in their village of Dunsop Bridge, near Preston.

Everybody from children to teenagers and parents to grandparents have got involved with the support of their local community police officers and safety organisations.

The group will now produce a finalised 'masterplan' within the next few weeks and hope that Fylde Borough Council will give the go-ahead for the project as well as absorbing some of the estimated £500,000 costs.

A Fylde Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We have not been made aware of any current development plans at Park View, but all planning applications are judged on their individual merits after all factors have been taken into consideration."

For further information on how to show support or make a donation to Park View 4U contact the hotline on 01253 738759.