BEVERSBROOK Sport and Community Facility is to get a floodlit all-weather pitch and an upgraded pavilion under plans agreed by Wiltshire Council.

The pitch will be fenced and floodlit while the pavilion will have a new entrance, reception and upgraded café, and there will be new access for pedestrians and cyclists.

Wiltshire Council has refused to say how much the project will cost while it goes out to tender. It will be jointly funded by Wiltshire Council and Calne Town Council.

The Calne Campus working group, set up by the Area Board, has been developing the proposals which included a public consultation in the summer.

Chairman of the group Coun Alan Hill said: “I’m delighted the application has been approved, which is the first of the three Calne campus sites which has got to this stage and we really feel now that it’s going somewhere.

“People can actually see results from the two years of hard work that the community, through the working group, has put into the development of the Calne Campus.”

Work on the pavilion is expected to get under way early in the New Year while construction of the new all-weather pitch should begin next spring.

Beversbrook is one of three sites for Calne’s Community Campus to combine a range of facilities and services.

It is part of a wider vision to create a split site campus in Calne jointly located at Beversbrook, Calne Leisure Centre and a site in the centre of the town.

Anne Henshaw, a member of the Calne Campus group, said: “I am pleased that this application has gone through and the result should be a really first-class multi-use facility for the town.

“I look forward to seeing the installation of a signal controlled pedestrian and cyclist crossing over the bypass near the entrance to Beversbrook in order to encourage green travel to and from the improved sports and recreational facility.”

The plans were approved at Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday, October 22.