LEGAL wrangles look set to keep an Oxford play area in the dark again this winter.

Campaigners have been trying to get extra lighting at Croft Road recreation park in Marston since 2007, so that children can use play equipment during autumn and winter months.

Two years ago, Oxfordshire County Council promised the lights in a £180,000 scheme to upgrade the park’s cycle path.

It would have lit the path by Rippington Drive, down Croft Road and along Purcell Road, and the lights would have been angled so the play area could be used in the evenings.

But when some residents complained the lights would be too close to their homes, questions were raised over the legal ownership of land behind Purcell Drive.

Roy Darke, county councillor for Headington and Marston, said the two year delay in settling the dispute and lighting up the area was a “disgrace”.

The lighting scheme has been fought for by community campaigner Mick Haines for four years. He even took a petition of 1,205 signatures to 10 Downing Street in September last year.

The retired scaffolder, who lives in Croft Road, said: “It is crucial we get these lights as we are going into another winter.

“It is crucial for safety. People are saying it is so dangerous and what’s the point of having the play apparatus down there if you can’t use it?”

He added: “It’s been a long drawn out job.

“It is a long struggle but it is worth the long battle. It is worth doing it for everyone who lives in the area.”

Mr Darke said of the delay: “It has gone on and on and on.

“Mick Haines is quite right and in some ways it is a bit of a disgrace.

“But there has been a cycle of problems.”

He said the question of ownership should be sorted out in “the next month or so” adding: “I believe we are on the last lap.

“But there will probably not be a start on the work until next spring or early summer.”

He warned the lights could not be installed before the path was upgraded.

He added: “The county council is very reluctant to do a job in two bits. It is 100 per cent regrettable and the footpath is a disgrace, but there have been these legal obstacles that have taken time to resolve.

“I and other councillors regret it, but the light is there at the end of the tunnel.”