HOT on the heels of funding to create a new youth leisure zone, Thamesmead is to get a new community multi-sports centre.

Trust Thamesmead has announced a funding package which will turn Thamesmead Town Football Club in Bayliss Avenue, into Sporting Club Thamesmead.

Work is due to start on-site on May 9 and should be finished by July 2010.

The trust has just secured a maximum grant of £1.075m from the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity, towards the project, with another £525,000 from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

This will be added to the £2.36m already allocated to the scheme by Trust Thamesmead.

There have also been grants of £150,000 from the London Marathon Trust; £55,000 from FIFA, football’s international governing body; £74,000 from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and £5,000 from the Rank Foundation.

The project will include a community sports pavilion housed in a new landmark building and containing changing rooms, indoor activity rooms and social facilities, all of which will be available for public use.

Among the outdoor facilities are a full-size synthetic turf pitch for all-year use for community football and other sports; a full-size senior grass football pitch plus extra grass pitches in the adjacent Crossways public park and a floodlit multi-use games area, for a variety of sports and activities.

The project will also provide extra parking and better access to the site and improved facilities for spectators and supporters of Thamesmead Town FC.

Trust Thamesmead said a lot of hard work had been done over a number of years to secure the funding for the project.

Vic Grimes, trust chairman, said: “I’m very pleased we now have all the funding in place and work is to start on a project which will provide a step change in sports provision in Thamesmead.”

He praised the help given by Bexley councillors and council officers over the four years it has taken to put the project together.

He added: “This, coupled with the fantastic response from the Football Foundation, the HCA and our other funders means Thamesmead will at last have the quality facility it has been sorely lacking for so long.”

Bexley Council leader, Councillor Teresa O’Neill said:“The design for the new building is stunning and will provide a much needed resource for the people of Thamesmead.”

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