THE leaders of a scheme to build a £4m multi-sports venue on the edge of a village say they are confident about securing the £2.5m of funding needed to make the proposal a reality.

Hambleton District Council is examining a range of sources to fund Sowerby Sports Village and will hold talks with various sports clubs about applying for grants to create a grass running track and facilities for junior football, rugby, hockey, and cycling.

The authority said work was getting under way on detailed designs for the site, which will feature a sports pavilion, car parks, full-size rugby pitches, one of which would be floodlit with covered spectator viewing, a floodlit football pitch, several other pitches and a bmx skills track.

There will also be a bike and fitness trail, an amphitheatre, extensions to the existing skatepark, hockey areas and a cafe.

Earlier this year it was revealed the nine-acre site near Thirsk would open five years earlier than planned after the council and the developer of the 925-home Sowerby Gateway estate, Mulberry Homes, struck a deal with a landowner.

The authority said as it already had £1.5m for the scheme from Mulberry Homes, and the project had recently received planning permission, it believed grant-giving groups would look favourably on applications.

The council's leader, Councillor Mark Robson, said: "Early indications from the various sports clubs are that there is a lot of money out there that can be put into this scheme."

He said he was pressing for work to start the landscaping of the site off Gravel Hole Lane, so that plants would become established as soon as possible, and for the creation of 26 allotments to serve as a buffer between Kings Meadows and the sports village.

Cllr Robson said while the facilities would be based in Sowerby, many Hambleton District residents would benefit and pointed towards Hillside Rural Activities Park, at Knayton, which attracts users from a wide area.

He said: “It is being embraced by the local community, and we hope that once completed it will be managed by a local voluntary organisation.”

Cllr Robson said he was continuing to press Mulberry Homes to fulfil another key part of the estate scheme, to build a new junction on the nearby A168, which planning conditions stipulated had to be completed within six months of the first home being occupied.