CAMPAIGNERS could find out this month whether their scheme to improve a run-down playing field has been successful in winning nearly £100,000 of extra funding.

If it has, their proposals to revamp Buckhurst Field in, Walcot could see a much more ambitious plan than the scheme for which they currently have funding.

The steering committee, which is made up of local people and councillors, could hear in about two weeks' time if their application for just under £93,000 from the Living Spaces fund has been accepted.

"Once we have heard about the Living Spaces money, then we can really start to work on it," said Sara Slack, who is on the committee. "Things are moving."

A formal pre-planning inquiry has also been submitted to the council to find out if planning permission is needed and the committee hopes that the results will be known by the end of the month.

The group has put together a set of proposals in two stages. Funding for the first stage has already been awarded, including £60,000 from the New Opportunities Transforming Your Space fund, £40,000 from the borough council and £5,000 from the Parks and Walcot Renewal Company.

It means a lock-up for sports equipment, a small skating area and new play equipment for toddlers and older children can be installed.

The green gym project, which is also included and is run by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, has already started.

But if the Living Spaces money comes through all the plans can be scaled up, resulting in more play equipment, a large enclosed ball game area and a more elaborate skate area that could be used by skate boarders, in-line skaters and BMX bikers alike.

The field could also see shelters designed as meeting places for teenagers and a tree and shrub planting scheme.

"We have consulted with the community as much as possible," said Mrs Slack. "And our ideas have been given approval in principle."

Hopes for the new funding are high, according to Swindon Council's Agenda 21 co-ordinator Lynn Forrester.

She said Living Spaces, which is Government-funded, had supplied the group with an expert to give them a fighting chance of winning the grant and he had recommended that they get it.

"I think it is a great project. It has all the right elements. It is all based on what the community needs and what the community wants and it is the community that really put this project together."

A family fun day is being held at Walcot Dome on July 3 as part of a series of events to raise money for sports equipment to be used on the revamped playing field.

The shopping list includes footballs, five-a-side nets and basketball gear to be stored in the new lock-up, which has already been bought and marks the first phase of the development.

Tina Clarke