A NORTH-East amateur football club is hoping to attract grants of more than £1m to turn it into a centre for sporting innovation.

Management at Evenwood Town AFC say the Health, Exercise, Activity Regeneration in Teesdale (Heart) project could become a blueprint for the rest of the county if it gets the go-ahead.

However, the club has also warned that unless grants can be found to take the project forward, the football ground and the surrounding Randolph Social Welfare Area could be lost as a community resource.

The Heart project would serve communities in east Teesdale and involve a healthy living centre programme, a soccer development programme and a Teesdale Institute of Sport.

It would involve building a combined social club and fitness suite, a community changing facility with canteen, drop-in youth bar, information technology facilities, after-schools club facilities, all-weather facilities, mini-soccer areas, additional soccer pitches, floodlit running area and a Green Gym.

As well as the facilities in Evenwood, the project would involve peripatetic work in other communities in east Teesdale and would involve people of all ages, as well as people with disabilities.

Although the football club has been at the forefront of the project, Evenwood Cricket Club and Road Runners are also heavily involved in a community sports partnership.

Ken Houlahan, the football club manager, said: "This is much broader than just football. It's about using sport to regenerate the community and getting it to engage and empower local people.

"For too long, kids here have had nothing to do and, through the project, we could take them off the streets. This has the potential to transform Evenwood into a centre for innovation."

However, Mr Houlahan said the social welfare area needed investment as its facilities urgently required upgrading.

There has been no investment in the site since 1973, and facilities such as the changing rooms were inadequate for today's needs as there were no separate rooms for youth and adult teams, or female changing facilities.

Mr Houlahan said: "We are at a critical juncture. If this doesn't go forward, the site could be lost as a community resource.

"We are teetering on the brink. This is the only way to protect this facility for the community."

Mr Houlahan said he had applied for grants from Sport England ad the Football Foundation, and said Euro MP Stephen Hughes was impressed by the proposals and was investigating possible sources of European funding.

"I am confident the scheme will go ahead," he said.