A sports centre costing £1.5m could soon be developed in Skelton.

The Hollybush Activity Centre will be based on an integrated sports, health and play development programme that aims to address the short, medium and long-term aspirations of people living primarily in Skelton and Brotton.

The centre is the idea of the Hollybush Management Committee, a partnership between Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and a number of organisations including Cleveland Police, Skelton and Brotton Parish Council, sports and leisure organisations and local schools.

The committee thought the centre was the ideal way to provide a complex that would encourage sports development as a means of addressing youth exclusion while improving the health and wellbeing of the wider community.

More than 1,000 local people have supported the scheme, which has been under discussion for the last seven years.

The proposed centre, now waiting for the green light from Sport England, will be developed on a former recreation site on Station Road.

It will consist of a multi-activity centre, a multi-sport all-weather pitch, an artificial turf pitch and floodlighting. The existing turf pitch will be refurbished to provide two full and two short-sided pitches and a coach and car park.

The centre itself will include a small activity hall, changing facilities, caf area, a bowls pavilion, first aid room, reception area, fitness suite, two meeting rooms and a viewing area.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council told Sports Lottery that the centre would cost £1,551,800.

The amount secured so far through the Single Regeneration Budget, Skelton and Brotton Parish Council and local fundraising is £388,000.

The council has also agreed to meet a shortfall of £227,000.

Skelton councillor Dave McLuckie said: "It is fantastic. It has been a community project right from the start.

"We now hope to have a favourable decision from Sport England in the very near future to provide what will be the first and best rural sports centre in East Cleveland."