POOLE’S newest park, which cost £250,000 to create, has been officially opened.

Seldown Park, named after the house which once stood on the site, is a walk-through park, outside the gates of Poole Park.

Created with developers’ planning contributions money, it has transformed the area in front of the Everyone Active: Poole Leisure Centre.

Rolling lawns, hardwood benches, pink granite paving, new lighting, 29 mature trees and a central art feature by local artist Rachel Huggett, whose recycled glass ribbons portray the area’s previous use as a rope works, are among the features.

Walking up from the car park, Poole mayor, Cllr Graham Wilson, who cut the ribbon to open the park said: “I thought I was going to the opening of a film premiere in the West End.

“Who needs a red carpet when you have pink paviours like this?”

He said the planning obligations money had been well spent on good design and landscaping to breathe new life into an important area of the town.

“These are things we couldn’t afford unless we had this money available,” he said.

Cllr Judy Butt, cabinet portfolio holder responsible for leisure said the “rather drab” area had been transformed into a “beautiful new space”.

An old black mulberry tree, which suffered root damage and then blew over in high winds, had been propped up and is now coming into bud.

Resident and local historian Ian Andrews said it was a great improvement and he liked the curves.

“It’s better than Bournemouth Gardens,” he said.

Contractor the Landscape Group has submitted the project for a national award from the British Association of Landscape Industries.