FOUNTAIN Fields Park in Middlewich is set to be given a new water feature costing up to £12,000, paid for entirely by Tesco’s 5p bag fund.

The park, in Queen Street, will be given a major refurbishment next year costing in excess of £320,000, with the majority of the fund coming from housing developers.

The park has now been given an added bonus by the supermarket giant Tesco, which has been using the money raised since the 5p bag levy, to give grants to community projects.

Beverley Cope, from action plan manager at Middlewich Vision, which manages the parks in Middlewich, said: “We are actively pursuing funding from a number of sources to ensure that any future plans being drawn up for the site can include some of the features that people expressed as essential and/or highly desirable.

“We are delighted to announce that a sum of money has been secured to include a water feature in the park which will reflect the history of the site. The amount will be no less than £8,000 but could be £12,000 depending on what the public vote for.”

The Tesco bags of Help initiative is co-run by Groundwork and sees grants of either £12,000, £10,000 or £8,000 awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

Middlewich Vision has been confirmed as one of the projects in the second round of the initiative, but how much is awarded, is up to the public.

Members of the public are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.

Voting is open in stores from Monday, October 31 until Sunday, November 13. Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said: “The first round of the Bags of Help initiative was a fantastic success.

“In total 1,170 community groups were awarded £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 - that’s a massive £11.7million being invested into local projects.

“We are already seeing some great results from groups transforming their own environmental and greenspace areas.

“We are absolutely delighted to open the voting for round two. There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see them come to life in hundreds of communities.”