WORK on the new Holsworthy Sports Pavilion has been given the go ahead and the town is soon to get its long awaited community asset.

The pavilion project has been years in the planning and the town council has now announced that funding is in and building work can commence.

The work began soon after the council signed a works contract, on Monday, January 9, for contractors Roger Andrews Ltd to carry out construction of the new pavilion.

Town councillor and architect Lyndon Piper, who has been heavily involved with the project from the start and is lead for the project’s designs, said: “It has been a few years work, by quite a few people in the town, to get to this stage but we can finally say we are underway — and that is very exciting!

“We are all hugely excited to see that work has started, it has really been a dream come true, not just for me, but for a lot of people who have been involved with this project.

“There has been huge support from everyone in Holsworthy, which has been great and just what I personally needed, when it is a long process you need that support.

“With a project of this scale, with such a long time frame, it is wonderful to have the support of locals saying things like ‘it’s a good idea, go for it’ — it gives you the real boost you need to keep going and get the job done for them!”

This project has been a true partnership between the Town Council, and the two main stakeholders, Holsworthy Youth Football and Holsworthy Cricket Club — who hold the lease for the building.

The funders for the Holsworthy sports pavilion project so far include; the town council, the Premier League and FA Facilities Fund, Sport England, the English Cricket Board, Torridge District Council, Devon County Council, the Balsdon Trust, Holsworthy Andigestion, the Holsworthy Hamlets Flower Club and a number of other local business’ and members of the local community who have contributed through a Crowdfunder appeal.

Funds were also raised at the recent coffee morning held in the Memorial Hall on Wednesday, January 11.

The town will be pleased to see work finally beginning on their community use sports pavilion and many can’t wait to see the finished building.

It is estimated that work will take around a year to complete.

Some local residents raised concerns earlier this week over the fact a footpath, which previously led to the town’s skatepark, has been closed whilst work is undertaken.

Cllr Piper explained that this is only temporary and the public are still able to access the skatepark.

He said: “A proportion of the path that runs around the new sports pitch has been temporarily closed whilst building work is undertaken. You can still get to the skatepark through the Redrow estate as a minor diversion has been put in place — this is to separate the public from the building site in accordance with health and safety regulations to ensure no injuries can occur.

“The path will be closed for the duration of work but there is a signed diversion for the public.”

Commenting on how excited he is to see that the work on the new pavilion has gotten underway, Cllr Piper said: “We still have a lot of work to do but it has reached a very exciting stage. It all starts here. This is such a positive project for the town with huge potential and it is great to see everyone getting behind it!”

He added: “I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped out during this process. It has been great to receive such amazing support from the local community.

“We are in the process of putting together the Pavilion Management Committee who will oversee the project and make sure we are sticking to the promises we have made to both the funders and the public, so we can deliver the sports pavilion this town deserves! Thank you to everyone involved!”