BMX CHAMPION: Shaun CalvertPRESTON could get its first BMX track under plans revealed this week.

Under the proposals the site of the former running track on London Road, Preston, above, would be transformed into a BMX track, together with a football pitch and a baseball pitch.

Preston City Council's Regeneration, Community and Leisure Services department want to develop the site to fill the city's need and demands of a BMX track.The plans have come to light just days after Preston BMX rider, Shaun Calvert, 41, of Dalmore Road, Ingol, became the European and World BMX champion.

The development would also include improving taffic links, a 20 bay car park with two spaces for disabled people, and building pedestrian access to the new facilities.

Last year proposals submitted by the Muslim Burialand Welfare Society to turn the site into a Muslim burial ground were rejected by the city council's planning committee.

Steven Jones, director of Regeneration, Community and Leisure Services, said: "We have been doing a fair amount of consultation on our playing pitch strategy.

"We identified that there was demand and a need for a dedicated BMX facility."

Preston City Council's leisure services department is hoping to secure funding from bodies like Sport England, and work is expected to begin in the spring of 2005, if the proposals are given the go ahead. Members of the public can inspect copies of the planning application Lancastria House, Lancaster Road, Preston.