GAZETTE & HERALD: CALNE Town Council is celebrating after securing a bid for £10,000 towards the Beversbrook Playing Fields project.

The money is being awarded by the Quality Parishes Investment Fund and will go towards the cost of professional fees in connection with a plan to create recreational space on 92 acres of former farmland at Beversbrook.

Coun Colin Viner, chairman of the town council's amenities committee, said: "This funding is a big step forward for the project. It will offset some of the costs and enable us to provide even better facilities than first imagined.

"As anyone who has applied for funding will know you face stiff competition and it is down to the professional way in which the town clerk prepared and presented the bid that we have achieved so much."

In 1998 Calne was identified as having a shortfall of 26 acres of recreational space according to National Playing Fields Association criteria.

In 2001 Calne Town Council purchased 92 acres of farmland at Beversbrook with the aim of addressing the shortfall.

The council's ambitious plans for the site include playing pitches, a nature reserve, showground, allotments and informal recreational space.

The project will see the relocation of many of the major field sports to the site and will enable existing recreational space to be enhanced to offer more sporting and leisure opportunities.

Chairman of the youth section of Calne Cricket Club, Peter Knight, said he was very happy with the news.

"The funding is a good thing from our point of view because at least now it's a step in the right direction and it shows that something is being done," he said.