A play area was shut one day after opening despite passing health and safety checks.

Families at Queen's Hills, in Costessey, have been waiting for a play area for years, but it was shut on September 6 and has remained closed since.

The play area passed a safety check before opening on September 5, and South Norfolk Council said it had been shut to make improvements.

A spokesman said: 'After we opened the play area, we had very good feedback from parents using it with their children, and they suggested some minor improvements to us.

'We are now making those, which will mean better facilities for the children.' The council said it hoped the play area would be open again by this weekend.

But parents were left disappointed by the closure. Beauty therapist Toni Bloomfield, 30, who lives by the park, visited the playground with her daughter and friend soon after it opened, only to find it locked again. She said: 'It is frustrating.

'My friend had come specifically from Colney with her son to go in the park.'

It is understood the monkey bars are being lowered; a swing seat replaced with a seat for toddlers and a playhouse is also being built.

A spokesman for the developers said the park would open when it had been handed over from the Queen's Hills consortium to South Norfolk Council.

Norfolk County Councillor for Costessey Tim East said: 'It is hugely disappointing for families, who have been waiting for years for a play area to open, to have it closed again so soon.

'I am sympathetic to them, but this is just one chapter in a list of problems that have befallen Queen's Hills.'

A legal agreement is also being drawn up between South Norfolk, the parish council and the developers over who is responsible for the play area.