The Horsell Moor playground is now open after the final inspections were completed and the last few snags sorted out.

Some areas of grass will be re-seeded in the coming weeks and the edges of the rubber matting might be a little muddy until the grass grows back, but there was a general view not to wait any longer to get the playground open.

Horsell councillor John Morley said: “The new playground looks fantastic. It’s been a real community effort to get this project completed. 

“Using multiple sources of funding has resulted in this playground having significantly more play equipment than was originally planned. 

“Thanks especially to the Horsell Residents’ Association and the Arora Group for their financial support.”

Mr Morley added in a social media post: “I think we can all agree it’s taken too long to get this playground upgraded. A few months of delay was due to an internal issue with the equipment manufacturer [Kompan]. To their credit they owned up to the mistake and agreed to my request to provide an additional piece of play equipment as compensation. So in the next couple of months they will come back and install a small trampoline.

“We’ve managed to include quite a lot more play equipment than was originally planned. This was mainly due to our successful application for Community Infrastructure Levy funding.

“The council’s financial issues meant some of the expected funds were not available to us. We were very fortunate The Arora Group – the new owners of The Peacocks shopping centre – stepped in and contributed over £1,000 for the final works. It’s great to see a major investor in the town contributing to a community project.”

Sanjay Arora, chief operating officer and head of property for the Arora Group, said: “We are delighted Horsell Moor playground is finally open and that we were able to assist to finish the project.

“Local community engagement has always been important to the Arora Group and it’s great to see we have been able to help with a local project so soon after our purchase of the Peacocks shopping centre earlier this year.

“As a parent myself, I understand the importance of a safe and great outdoor place for children to spend quality time in and we also look forward to engaging further with the residents of Woking via our calendar of activities planned at Peacocks shopping centre.”

Mr Morley continued: “The Horsell Residents’ Association kindly contributed £1,250 for two benches and the four Horsell councillors – myself, Swati Mukherjee, Adam Kirby and Lance Spencer – covered the remainder of the cost.

“Thanks to all who have helped get this project completed.”