FINAL funding is now in place for work to begin on a £1.8 million project to build the biggest outdoor public sports complex in West Devon, after borough councillors agreed to give an extra £80,000 to the development.
The scheme, for a comprehensive new football complex at Crowndale on the edge of Tavistock, is for six new pitches, a new grandstand, five new sets of changing rooms, a community room and a car parking area. The plans also include a separate access road through the existing football club.
West Devon Borough Council has now allocated a total of £310,000 towards the ambitious plans. The money is earmarked to be used for community projects through a Section 106 agreement between the council and the developers of Tavistock's Tiddy Brook Meadows.
The Football Foundation has awarded a development grant of £1 million, the largest ever given to a rural scheme. The Devon Football Association has supported the project with a grant of £200,000.
Last autumn, the scheme was under pressure due to high tenders for the development. At one stage, it seemed inevitable that at the very least the community room may have to be pulled from the project.
However, the borough's decision to award extra funding means all the originally planned elements can now go ahead.
Cllr Margaret Garton, chairman of the borough's strategies committee, said: 'This project has been 15 years in the planning. The council's original grant of £65,000 has levered in over £l.2 million of funding to provide a far better scheme than was originally envisaged. The communities in the southern half of West Devon and all the people who have worked so hard for so long thoroughly deserve to be rewarded for their ambition and tireless efforts.'
Sue Hammond, chairperson of Tavistock Football Community Club, said: 'We have had a difficult few months when the whole scheme was in the balance despite all the Football Foundation support.
'We still have to cut back a bit but the borough council has been magnificent and we can now go ahead with all our planned elements.
'We still have to undertake major local fundraising over the next two years but everybody is so fully behind it.'
Along with the Borough Council, Devon County Football Association, Crowndale Recreational Association, Tavistock Football Club, Tavistock College, Tavistock Town Youth FC, Tavistock Thistles FC, local ladies' football teams and Devon County Council have all played a major role in the project.
Architects for the scheme are Stuart Bayley of Living Space, Plymouth and Dick Spackman of Tavistock. The development is expected to be completed by the autumn.