AN eagle eye needs to be kept on the £4.2-million project to build a new sports centre in Okehampton's Simmons Park, councillors were this week warned.

The scheme, which includes a new swimming pool, tennis courts, sports hall and aerobics room, attracted a £3.2-million lottery grant and is being piloted by West Devon Borough Council.

But this week deputy chief executive David Inman warned members of the council's economic, leisure and community development committee that the huge project needed strict

attention every step of the way.

Mr Inman said that at present, it was too early to assess whether the project was on course financially, but there had been problems already with the construction.

He said the ground on which the tennis courts were due to be built had proved too wet. No suitable alternative site had been found, so the ground would have to be compacted with soil from the main site for nine months, after which time it would be stable enough to build on next spring.

Mr Inman said as a consequence of these complications, it was likely the council would continue to be a partner as far as the tennis courts were concerned, instead of handing them over to Okehampton College and the town council, as was the original intention.

He said work on the main building was now at the steel frame stage.

'The contractors themselves are some six to eight weeks behind schedule, which is not good news. Obviously, when things go slowly they don't come in cheaper and we ought to be aware of that situation,' he said.

In addition, one of the sub-contractors appointed to deal with pool filtration had gone into receivership, said Mr Inman. In spite of this, progress had been good in the last two weeks and the construction was 'starting to look like a building'.

'We would like to have a topping out ceremony when the building gets to its highest stage and we'd like to bring in a celebrity at this stage,' said Mr Inman. It was important to keep excitement about the building, and its profile, high in the minds of the public, he added.

The topping out ceremony is likely to take place some time before Christmas.