A dream to create acres of open space to be enjoyed by Wickford's growing population was today a step closer.

About £300,000 has been set aside to finally build a 46-acre park for Wickford's growing Wick estate.

The cash has been included in Basildon Council's 1999/2000 draft budget to improve facilities for the ever-expanding area.

Residents and Wickford councillors will now have the chance to put forward their ideas on what facilities they would like to see included on the site.

Playing fields and a park have been promised for the estate since building work began on homes in the 1970s.

About 40 acres were originally put aside for a leisure area by the council but a deal was struck in November 1997 to purchase more land.

A survey was carried out among 2,100 homes on the Wick to decide where the new park should be on the estate.

Around 87 per cent agreed that the council should back a land-swap deal with a local landowner so a site next to Sappers Farm could be developed.

Now the council has committed £300,000 to the project.

Much of the bill will be met by developers building homes in the area as part of a planning condition drawn up when work first began on the estate.

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