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£5m sports hub - envy of region
Plans to create a £5million sports hub at Rockingham Triangle to improve sport provision in Corby can be revealed for the first time today.
They include ambitious plans to open a beacon tennis facility – one of only 25 in the UK – with six new outdoor floodlit tennis courts at Corby Tennis Centre ,
Just six months ago the centre was rescued from the threat of closure.
A new 1.5million sports hall with four badminton courts and the town's only indoor cricket nets will also be built and the facilities could also be used for volleyball and basketball, sports hugely popular with the town's growing eastern European community.
Eight new changing rooms and officials' rooms will be constructed to encourage more children and women to play football on pitches there, and a 500,000 3G floodlit football pitch will also be provided alongside the new 1,000-seater Corby Town stadium.
A multi-purpose room will be used for dance, martial arts, health and fitness training and education, while doubling-up as a social club on match days.
And an Olympic-training standard weights room will be built to help local athletes hone their training methods.
Funding for the scheme will come from a range of grants from the council and various sporting bodies.
Corby Council's One Corby Policy Committee passed the plans last week subject to several conditions, and they must now go before the development control committee later this month.
A report to councillors by chief executive Chris Mallender said: "Corby Indoor Tennis Club was threatened with closure at the turn of the year. As a result of pro-active discussions with the owners, Cannon Leisure, the Lawn Tennis Association and its Tennis Foundation, proposals have now been made to not only rescue the facility but to further develop it by the addition of six outdoor floodlit tennis courts.
"This will be fully funded as part of the LTA's current programme to develop Beacon Facilities in around 25 locations across the UK. Corby would be the second facility designated in the East Midlands after a combined Nottingham/Loughborough facility."
Oakley Vale resident Debbie Edwards, a member of Corby Tennis Club, fixtures secretary for Corby Netball League and committee member for Castle Badminton Club that plays at Lodge Park Sports Centre, said "Sport in Corby is booming.
"All the clubs I play for have new members coming along every week but we just don't have enough facilities to house them.
"I think these proposals are absolutely fantastic. I am so excited about the regeneration of the Triangle and it can only be a good thing to get people up and about and taking part in sporting activities in the town."
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
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