A GOLF club has tabled plans for a revolutionary two-storey driving range costing £500,000.

Roseberry Grange Golf Club, in Grange Villa, near Chester-le-Street, made the announcement after a string of successes.

In April it was designated the first national centre for disability in the country and it recently introduced a popular mobile coaching scheme for school children in the North-East. The latest plans will see the current 17-bay driving range knocked down and replaced by a two-storey building with 34 bays costing around £500,000.

The ground floor will be for youngsters from the Roseberry Grange Golf Academy, a training school for budding golfing stars, while the top floor will be open to the public and professionals.

Alan Hartley, Roseberry's golf professional, says the club is now able to provide the region's children with an educational golfing experience. He said: "When we take our mobile coaching scheme to special schools the children get tremendously excited. Most special schools don't have facilities for something like golf.

"Golf seems to have an almost therapeutic effect on youngsters with learning difficulties sometimes. It's hoped the new facilities will help more youngsters of all abilities to pick up the game, even if it's at an amateur level."

Mr Hartley added: "This new driving range is tied in with our new status as national centre for disability. It will mean we can coach more children, both from our Academy and from local special schools.