PLANS to redevelop facilities for a junior football club have received a six-figure funding boost.

Proposals to improve Worsthone Recreation Ground were approved by Burnley Council last year, and now Fulledge Colts youth football club has been successful in securing a £183,111 grant towards the project.

The grant will enable Fulledge which has boys and girls teams ranging from U7 to U18, to create four new junior football pitches, provide changing rooms and a clubhouse, together with parking facilities.

Bosses say the scheme will benefit the many local children who play for the club and the wider community of Worsthorne.

The club and the council worked with the Football Foundation and the Lancashire FA to secure the grant from the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund.

Dave Holmes, president of Fulledge Colts, said: “We are very grateful to the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund for providing this grant, which will allow us to provide new pitches and facilities in Worsthorne and which will encourage more local children to take part in football, which is so beneficial to their health and wellbeing.

“We are also very grateful to the Lancashire Football Association for their support in developing the scheme.”

Cllr John Harbour, the council’s executive member for leisure, said: “The existing football pitches at Worsthorne Recreation Ground have been disused for many years because of poor drainage and a lack of changing rooms and toilets.

“We are delighted that, with generous support from the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund, we will be able to bring these pitches back into community use.

“There has been a great amount of time and effort put into the project and I’d like to thank everyone for their involvement, we are incredibly excited as a club to have secured a home.”

Paul Thorogood, chief executive of the Football Foundation, said: “Since 2000, the Football Foundation has awarded 515 grants worth £13.9m across Lancashire County FA towards grassroots sports projects worth £32.2m, and it is great to hear that Fulledge Colts will be the latest beneficiary.

“Funding from the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund, delivered by the foundation, will support the club in developing new junior pitches."