PLAYSCHEMES in Burnley have received a £120,000 boost -- six months after the council was forced to make budget cuts of thousands of pounds.

Bids were made to external funds as part of an action plan by the council aimed at maintaining the playschemes and the council was told this week that a bid to the Lancashire Children's Fund had been successful.

The fund was set up to hand out government cash set aside for work with children.

A decision was made in February that a restructuring of the council's play team, including replacing some full-time jobs with part-time jobs, would be needed to save money.

The new cash will allow another full-time member of staff to be employed. Council staff pledged that the after-school and evening schemes would continue despite the cuts and have recently launched a large-scale programme of after-school activities.

The extra cash means that extra play sessions, aimed at five-to 13-year-olds, can now be funded on top of the current agenda.

Joe Fallows, the council's play development officer, said: "The council is already funding staff to provide more than 20 sessions of work each week at venues across the borough. We've just begun this programme.

"The extra money from the Chilren's Fund will mean that we can provide extra sessions on top of those from Christmas. And we'll be appointing a full-time worker for 18 months to bring in fresh ideas for activities, develop links with schools and other agencies, and to get parents, volunteers and the children themselves involved in making decisions about the play work."

Mike Waite, head of community and recreation services, said the schemes were now back to full strength. "Since Easter there has been a reduction in the amount of play work the council does because of the restructuring but we have now stepped back up to the full programme of activities."

Councillor Rafique Malik, Burnley's executive member for social welfare, welcomed the grant.