WOOTTON Bassett Town Sports Association are celebrating a major boost to the £6 million development of their new home after they were handed £300,000 of funding from Sport England.

The sports association, which is made up of the town’s football, cricket, tennis and road running clubs, are relocating from their current site at Rylands Way to a new base on Malmesbury Road, which is set to include four grass pitches, eight tennis courts and two cricket squares.

The £300,000 windfall will go towards adding a new full-size artificial pitch that will be used by a host of different clubs year-round.

“The site on Rylands Way was given to the sports association in 1930 by Gerard Buxton but, all being well, we’re hoping to begin building work by the end of the year at the new base, which is opposite Ballards Ash,” said the association’s relocation manager Paul Harrison.

“A lot of the funding for the new development has come from the sale of the Rylands Way site to Persimmon homes but obviously, this grant from Sport England is a huge help.

“The new artificial 3g pitch will be there for all of the different sports clubs to use and we’re hoping to encourage the nearby rugby club to make use of it for training.

“Unfortunately, the Hellenic League rules mean that the first team of the football club wouldn’t be able to use it as their pitch but there’s nothing to stop youth football and other sports from using it.

“Work on this project has been going for ten years now and it has been a challenge but we’re getting closer.”