Plans for new sports and recreation facilities on Congresbury’s Recreational Club have started to pick up pace.

First reported in the North Somerset Times in January, now, the new plan, called Project Construct, has gathered momentum and new stages have started to develop.

These include demolitioning and rebuilding of the existing Rec Club with separate sports and lounge bars.

There will also as be four new multi-sex changing rooms with shower and toilet facilities for the cricket and tennis clubs and is an important part of the plan to grow the amount of women and girls cricket being played.

The existing tennis clubhouse will also be demolished.

The rough estimate is approximately going to cost in the region of £600,000, a figure to be confirmed once the detailed plans have been finalised.

To help make the target there will be three stages which would need to be met. There will be a campaign asking for donations from individuals and fundraising events will be held locally.

Then there will be applying to various bodies, which support sport, as well talking to local companies and hopefully from 2023 there will be grant funding available.

Congresbury Cricket Club President Les Owen has been with involved with the side for over 40 years.

Owen, who had a house which overlooked the cricket field, said the opportunity to help the area grow is “very fulfilling” and all three teams and the Recreational Club all play an “integral part of the glue” which is an “essential and central part” of village life.

“There has been extensive discussion in the recreational club and all the sports clubs amongst the trustees for quite a time now, particularly over the last 18 months when it looked like the village hall was not going to proceed,” he said.

“Then we have been through a process with the recreational clubs and the cricket, tennis and football clubs discussing what our requirements should be for the future. Get better facilities for playing sport recreational on the field.

“There was a project committee formed, which I am the chairman of, and it has representatives from the three sport clubs and the recreational club.

“We’ve been in close contact with King George V trustees, who are responsible for the overall management of the field and we have now got to the point where we thought there was enough that we could communicate to the villagers of Congresbury.

“We’ve done that with this note that we have put on the village website and we are in the process of getting some feedback from the villagers. I hope we will be in a position to start to the North Somerset planners in the next six weeks as part of the pre-planning process, following which, depending obviously on the feedback we get, I would hope that we can move towards a formal application for planning permission.

"It’s at that stage, we would communicate to the village and release a more detailed plans for the two buildings.

“It’s urgently in need of renewal which is what the project is about. If we can get better facilities then we will expect the recreational club will be used by more in the village for other sporting recreational activities.”