A MEETING to look at the future of a playground on Oxford’s biggest estate will be held next week.

Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground (BLAP) closed in December 2009 due to funding problems and trustees have been trying to re-open it ever since.

But with no funds and an ongoing dispute about the lease, supporters have admitted the future looks bleak.

BLAP committee chairman Kieran Watson, 40, said: “My generation has a lot of fun memories of the adventure playground and want their children to have similar experiences.”

The 36-year-old playground was last month turned down for Big Society Funding from Oxfordshire County Council.

The committee has also applied for a number of other grants, including the Big Lottery Fund and European Year of Volunteering fund, but have been unsuccessful.

They have also expressed interest in becoming a “Queen Elizabeth II” park as part of the Queen’s jubilee celebrations next year.

Mr Watson said one of the problems they had getting funding was because the land was owned by Oxford County Council on a short-term lease.

He said: “We were making applications for three to five years’ worth of funding and there’s no guarantee it will be there in three years.

“The council could just turn around and say they weren’t going to renew the lease.”

To raise awareness of the playground’s plight, a meeting will be held on Monday at the Leys Community Centre from 6.30pm to discuss its future.

Committee members are also hoping to organise a fundraising talent event with another of the committee members, Britain’s Got Talent star Fabia Cerra.

Mr Watson said: “Our campaign is now to shout louder and let people know we’re here. I feel so desperate that the playground is going to be lost to the community.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said: “This site is leased by Oxfordshire County Council to The Trustees of Blackbird Leys Committee for Adventure Play.

“Oxford City Council are guarantors for this lease.

“We have not been notified by BLAP of any intention on their part to end the lease. We do not currently have any inclination to end the lease ourselves.”