PEOPLE living near Minehead's Cuckoo Meadow are being encouraged to have their say on what type of play equipment they would like to see installed for community use. West Somerset Council is in the middle of a £100,000 Big Lottery Fund bid to pay for a host of new play equipment at the Cuckoo Meadow Play Area. Having already got through the first stage of the application process, the authority now needs to ensure the success of phase two by getting local people involved again. Residents of all ages are being invited to a special drop-in event at the Sainsbury Hall on Thursday, October 2, from 4.15pm and 6.45pm. They will be able to vote for their favourite pieces of equipment and say what activities they would like to see if the lottery bid is successful. "We hope local people will take part in this consultation event as this bid could bring in over £100,000 to Cuckoo Meadow, through organised activities and new play equipment, if the stage two application is successful with the Big Lottery," said Cllr Anthony Trollope-Bellew, the council's lead member for the environment. The district council has been working with members of the local community, Minehead Town Council, police community support officers, voluntary groups, housing providers, Minehead Eye and the Somerset Rural Youth Project to try to redevelop the play area off Whitworth Road, to meet local needs. A survey was sent out a year ago to residents in the area and revealed that more than two thirds of children and young people used the area in the evenings, with this increasing to 88 per cent at weekends. All respondents asked for organised activities on the site and local youth provision. The top three choices of equipment were swings, slides and equipment which rotated/spun. Goal posts and a picnic area were also requested, as was a new access point to make it easier for the disabled and those with pushchairs. Further consultation was carried out in February, including two first school focus group consultations, mobile youth worker outreach and a trip to other play areas. This supported the earlier findings of the need for organised activities on the site, local youth provision, facilities for ball games, a picnic area and new equipment. All of the information was used to submit a stage one bid to the Big Lottery Fund's Reaching Communities Scheme. This summer the project was sent though to the second application stage, meaning more consultations need to be held to increase the chance of success.