A MAJOR refurbishment of Churchill Playing Fields is near completion after more than a year of work on the site.
Drainage improvements of the 7.8-hectare area – the largest in Saddleworth and Lees – began in February 2012 but have been disrupted by bad weather.
But work is scheduled to be completed this month, with a long jump pit and running track already in place and changing rooms being renovated, in time for the next football season.
Councillor Barbara Beeley, Chair of the Saddleworth and Lees District Partnership, who provided £60,000 funding for the project, said: “We are very close to being finished.
“We just need people to stay off the grass now while it gets established – but that is hard during the summer holidays.”
Funding was also received from the Football Foundation and the Rugby Football League, and a bid has been made for money for new tennis courts.
