A COUNCIL is looking locally for specialist companies to drain a village football pitch.

The modernisation of the playing fields in Middleton St George is at the top of the parish council's agenda.

A feasibility study was carried out for the scheme, which will improve the pitch used by the Rangers Football Club, and £20,000 has been allocated from the parish's open spaces budget for the revamp.

A further £5,000 will come from neighbouring Lower Dinsdale Parish Council.

Members are looking for local firms to carry out the work on the field, which needs drains installing plus levelling and relaying.

Council chairwoman Doris Jones said: "It is a priority for us to get the football pitch for the kids."

The council has received a quote of £26,500 from a company for the work, with the drainage costing £8,750.

At a meeting on Monday night, it was agreed that the council would also look into getting a grant to help pay for the costs.

The playing fields are being given a facelift, with housing developer George Wimpey North-East clearing the overgrown shrubs and demolishing the crumbling stone wall and replacing it with wrought iron fencing.