Work has kicked off on a £500,000 upgrade for a North Tyneside sports facility.
Facilities at Burradon Community Recreation Ground are being modernised to create new opportunities in sport for local clubs and residents.
The scheme will see the installation of a new mini-soccer artificial grass pitch, suitable for year-round football, while also providing a facility that can be hired by the community.
Grass pitches will be given a new drainage system to improve the playing surface and changing facilities.
On the same site, a new irrigation system has already been installed at the bowling green to ensure a high-performance surface, and football changing rooms have been revamped to allow easier access for clubs using the facilities.
The project will help the North Tyneside Council deliver on its commitment to maintain and improve sports and leisure facilities across the borough.
It will continue into early 2021 and the playing fields will be unavailable for public access at the site whilst work is carried out.
Grass pitches will also be out of action for the rest of this season whilst the new drainage beds in but North Tyneside Council is helping Burradon Juniors to find temporary pitches elsewhere.
Coun Sarah Day, the council's cabinet member for culture, sport and leisure, said: “It is fantastic to see work getting started on this exciting project.
“The football facilities will be vastly improved and in the future fewer games will be cancelled because of a waterlogged playing surface. That will be a huge benefit for our local clubs who are already making up for lost time because of Covid-19.
“It’s taken a huge amount of planning, commitment and determination to make this project a reality and I would like to thank our local clubs, residents, and our team in leisure services for helping to deliver a first-class facility for both the village and for people right across the borough to use.”
Paul Bunyan, club chairman of Burradon Juniors Football Club, added: “We're thrilled that the work is finally starting at the site. Once it's finished, we'll have the facilities that the young people and all involved with the club deserve.
"We work hard to provide football for the community so to have these facilities will be amazing."
