MARLBOROUGH is a step closer to having a permanent home for its tennis club after plans were supported by the town council at a meeting last night.

The club wants to build six hard-surface courts, a small wooden pavilion to provide toilet facilities and shelter and car parking facilities at the site of the old piggery at Marlborough Golf Club.

There are just under 200 members, and the club currently rents courts at Preshute from Marlborough College and can only be used when they are not needed by the school.

If planning permission is granted for this scheme the club would have all-year tennis facilities on the land that runs parallel to the A346.

The application has generated a lot of support from residents in the town with 16 people submitting letters of support to Wiltshire Council since the application was submitted in mid-November.

In September the club held a small scale public exhibition at the Golf Clubhouse and 96 per cent of respondents were in favour of the proposed scheme.

There were no objections to the application during the town council planning meeting.

It is anticipated that Wiltshire Council will make a decision on the facility by Friday, January 9.