A MASSIVE £3.2-million sports lottery cheque was handed over to West Devon?s new mayor in Okehampton this week, allowing work to start on an ambitious new sports centre for the town.

The sports centre will cost a total of £4.2 million, and will comprise a four lane, twenty-five metre traditional swimming pool, a competition-standard sports hall and separate fitness and aerobic studios. New floodlit tennis courts will also be constructed.

The scheme is the biggest ever undertaken by West Devon Borough Council and is one of a package of regeneration measures undertaken in Okehampton following the lease of council-owned land to supermarket firm Waitrose.

West Devon Mayor Cllr Peter Hill received the cheque from Jonathan Calderbank of Sport England and then took the controls of a JCB to start some of the foundation work at the site in Simmons Park on Tuesday .

Cllr Hill said this was a ?momentous day for Okehampton, the towns and villages which surround it and for West Devon as a whole?.

Cllr Hill added: ?It shows that if you are prepared to work really hard and work in partnership, things happen.

?We would like to think we have a reputation in West Devon for doing just that and the Okehampton sports centre, which is our biggest project to date, is a good example of both perseverance and team work.?

Cllr Hill said that Simmons Park must be ?one of the most picturesque places? to site a new sports facility.

The centre will be to the north of Simmons Park, overlooking the Edwardian parkland, and recognised as one of the best Edwardian parks in the country.

Cllr Hill said given Okehampton?s central location and good road links to the rest of the county, it was hoped the centre would attract people from far and wide to use its facilities.

He said the scheme was made possible by a partnership between West Devon Borough Council, Okehampton Town Council, Devon County Council, Okehampton College, the Mid Devon Primary Care Trust, OCRA and the local tennis and swimming clubs.

It is hoped construction will take 14 months and the centre will be able to open its doors in the summer of 2004.

Johnathan Calderbank from Sport England said he was pleased the sports facility was sited next to Okehampton College, as it would help encourage young people to get involved in sport.

The Sports Lottery panel, which receives a huge volume of bids, were said to be impressed by the range of the partnership package. The award was one of the largest made by Sport England anywhere in the South West.

The scheme is based on 78% lottery funding with the remainder coming from the scheme?s partners.

The borough council is providing £480,000 towards the project, some of the money it received from the Waitrose development in Okehampton three years ago.

The scheme architects are Burke Rickards of Plymouth and the developers are Keir Western, also of Plymouth.