LEISURE chiefs are finalising details of a multi-million pound National Lottery bid to create a state-of-the-art sports facility.

A consortium of the borough's organisations is hoping to create the county's best sporting complex at the Hartford Campus by 2001, if their application is successful.

The scheme will include an eight-court sports hall with a health and fitness suite, improved athletics facilities and a dance studio.

The first phase of the application must be tabled by October 1 this year and the organisation behind the ambitious project, The Hartford Campus and Moss Farm Development Group, have now given the bid the green light.

Manchester-based leisure consultants Strategic Leisure, hired by the working party to assess the scheme's viability earlier this year, will now attempt to turn the sports dream into reality.

Mid Cheshire College principal John Howard, who is head of the development committee backing the bid, said: "Sport has to be a key feature of every modern community and good sporting facilities are a pre-requisite.

"We are determined to make this project a success because we desperately want and need it to succeed."

The cost of the scheme is estimated at £5 million, with the Lottery money expected to cover about 70 per cent of the cost.

The remainder of the cash will have to be raised privately. Howard added: "We will be seeking financial help from local and national companies to supplement our efforts and give the community users something to be proud of."

The development committee, which is made up of representatives from local schools, sporting clubs and councillors, plan to host the inaugural Cheshire Festival of Youth Sport at Hartford to mark the complex's opening.

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