A West Cumbrian dad is calling for help to create a safe place for local children to play.

Lee Butterworth, who also runs Xtreme Fitness gym at Lillyhall, has appealed for a helping hand to transform a green space at Bleach Green into a place for young people.

He put the call out for support after he noticed that there was nowhere for his young children to play near their home.

Lee, who has a three-year-old and a newborn child, said: “I just think there’s nothing around here and I know that lots of the funding in the area goes into the poverty-stricken areas, which is brilliant, but the kids here need something as well.”

The Whitehaven resident appealed on social media at the weekend and has already started work to create a committee of local residents to help with his cause, but he is still looking for more people to get involved.

The idea is to build a play park for local children and improve the area that currently is 'quite unsafe' by improving the steps and providing a disabled access route.

The field is currently owned by Copeland Council and in recent years has had football posts placed on it – but Lee thinks that more needs to be done.

Lee aims to put a plan together that he can take to the council for funding, as well as creating a '200 club' for residents that would see maintenance and insurance for the park be kept up every month. He said: “This is something that I am 100 per cent going to be going for and, once I get the momentum, the council will probably not have much choice.”