SEDGEFIELD village will soon have a new all-weather playing area, tennis courts and a clubhouse, thanks to a £290,000 national lottery grant through Sport England.

The facilities will be sited in the community college grounds and the application was made by the community association in association with the college and County Durham education authority.

The grant will be used for the building of an all-weather games pitch, three all-weather competition standard tennis courts and all will be floodlit. It also covers the building of a clubhouse with community office and coffee bar extension, male and female showers and changing rooms and a club room.

The Lawn Tennis Association has made a substantial financial contribution of £45,000 to the scheme, and the local tennis club will become affiliated to the college community association. It is expected that the total cost of the scheme will be in the region of £350,000.

In addition to being used by the community association, the facility will be available to the college.

Chairman of the association, Mr Jack Glendinning, said that they were delighted with the news: "We can now go ahead with our plans to extend and promote additional sporting activities for the benefit of our community. I must express our grateful thanks to deputy head teacher Mr John Tomlinson who over the past two years has put in a tremendous amount of work in formulating and co-ordinating the application."

Ms Lynne Ackland, the head teacher, expressing her delight at the success of the application, said it marked the start of a bright future for the college and the community.

"It will really say to people how much we want to be a focus in the community. We are really looking forward to it as the start of a good partnership with the community. It will also help us to raise our standards," she added