A NEW £750,000 sports development has got under way in a bid to improve facilities at a popular playing fields.

The project, at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School’s Harrison Playing Fields in Lammack Road, is expected to be completed by March.

New changing and shower facilities will be in place for players and officials at Blackburn Community Sports Club.

It will go alongside the popular sports hall.

A large teaching room and an equipment store will feature along with a sensory room.

QEGS head Simon Corns said: “The playing surfaces at the Harrison Playing Fields are already excellent, and have earned compliments from professional football clubs, as well as from the Lammack Juniors managers and their teams, who use the pitches most Sundays throughout the season.

“When the new changing rooms and showers are completed, we will be able to offer visiting schools and others who use our pitches (including disabled sportsmen and women) the same high standards before and after the game.

Queen Elizabeth’s is firmly rooted in the local community and this is another example of our strong links with the people of Blackburn and East Lancashire.”

In addition to the funding provided by the Football Foundation and the school, a number of charities have supported the project financially, prominent among them being The Henry Smith Charity, Rock FM’s ‘Cash for Kids’, and the Preston-based Harris Charity.

In the medium term, Queen Elizabeth’s expects the new facilities to increase the level of demand not only for hire of its football, rugby and cricket pitches, but also for the sports hall itself, and the hard-court area for tennis and netball alongside it.